Hopes rose high Wednesday about the Yemeni sides finally signing a GCC-brokered power transition deal, but by the evening they were dashed and GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif Al-Zayani left for Riyadh. Ahmed Al-Sufi, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s press adviser, said earlier that the mediators had made a breakthrough in the talks when the opposition agreed to remove its supporters from camping sites after Saleh agreed to sign the deal in his capacity as both the head of state and the ruling party.
It was not clear what was holding up the signing of the accord. Yahya Abu Asbaa, a leading opposition figure, told Al Arabyia channel that Saleh’s insistence that Yasin Saeed Noman sign the deal for the opposition instead of Mohammed Basindowa, the opposition choice, was the reason behind the delay.
Abu Asbaa said the agreed deal – in its third draft – entails Saleh’s resignation within a month. The opposition, however, made it clear to the mediators that it does not hold sway over the protesters. Under the deal, Saleh would resign and hand power to his vice president within 30 days of signing. The deal would offer Saleh and his inner circle immunity from prosecution.