... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
to immediately sign a deal under which he would quit.
The resolution, unanimously agreed by the 15 members, "strongly condemns" deadly government attacks on demonstrators and backs a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) peace plan under which Saleh would end his 33 years in power.
Several hundred people have been killed since protests against Saleh erupted in January.
The Security Council's strongest pronouncement yet on the Yemen crisis called on Saleh to keep a promise to immediately sign the GCC plan and for a peaceful power transition "without further delay".
Saleh has said he agrees to the plan by the six Gulf states but has refused to sign it or implement any of its provisions.
Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, who was outside the Security Council for the vote, called for greater international pressure on Saleh, saying the resolution should have been tougher.
"This is not sufficient. They have to discuss the ousting of Saleh and how he has to be handed over to the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
," Karman said.
"We feel that the resolution did not address the issue of accountability and amnesty," she added, again rejecting any suggestion of an amnesty for Saleh.
"We reject any killing. We just want a fair trial for him. The revolution people will take Saleh in a peaceful manner. Saleh and his children will receive a fair trial," Karman told news hounds.
The Security Council went from the vote to consultations on events in Libya, including the killing of ousted strongman Moammar Qadaffy
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years...
Diplomats said the death of Qadaffy and uprisings in other Arab nations could put more pressure on the Yemeni leader. But there was no threat of sanctions in the resolution drawn up by Britannia.
Russia and China this month vetoed a proposed resolution which spoke of possible measures against Syria's
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
and have strongly condemned the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
air strikes in Libya.
But the Yemen resolution orders a report on events in the country within 30 days, and Britannia's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the council could come back to the Yemen crisis.
Lyall Grant said the resolution includes some "tough messages" for Saleh.
The unanimous vote "reflects the very deep international concern about the deteriorating political, humanitarian, security and economic situation in Yemen," he said.
The resolution "strongly condemns the continued human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
violations by the Yemeni authorities, such as the excessive use of force against peaceful protestors."
It demands that "all sides" reject the use of violence for political goals and says that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses "should be held accountable."
The council has so far agreed only two statements, which have lesser diplomatic weight than a resolution, on Yemen.
Saleh's refusal to hand over power since his return from medical treatment in Soddy Arabia and growing fears about the rising influence of al-Qaeda have heightened international concern about the country.
After 33 years in power, Saleh is refusing to step down unless his arch rivals, General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, who are currently battling his troops in Sanaa, also step aside.
The capital is now divided between the three while al-Qaeda controls many provinces.