AFP - A mediator of the Gulf monarchies left Sanaa Saturday after the failure of his mission, the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh denied having refused to sign a plan to end the crisis providing his resignation, according to the opposition.
Mr Saleh told the Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdul Latif al-Zayani he refused to sign the plan to end the crisis "as President of the Republic", as stipulated in the document according to the spokesman of the opposition, Mohamed Qahtani.
Mr. Zayani conveyed this position to the Joint Forum (Parliamentary Opposition), which required that Mr.Saleh sign the agreement, an official of the coalition.
The agreement was expected to be signed on Sunday in Riyadh, attended by the heads of diplomacy of the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar).
It provides training through the opposition of a government of reconciliation and resignation of Mr. Saleh after a month. It also plans to grant immunity to Mr. Saleh and his staff to hold a presidential election within 60 days after the resignation of Mr. Saleh and draft a new constitution to be submitted to a referendum.
The plan was approved by the opposition and the ruling party, General People's Congress (GPC), but never explicitly by Mr.Saleh faces a growing challenge from the streets since January.
The Head of State had concerted the afternoon, before receiving the mediator of the GCC, with more than 400 personalities from government, parliament and the GPC "to discuss the initiative of the GCC," said Tarek al-Shami, spokesman of the party.
In a statement, the ruling party said the head of state was "not concerned with the signing of the agreement to be signed by the GPC and the Joint Forum," while the text of the plan provides that the document is signed by the president and the opposition.
The ruling party said the vice-chairman of GIC, Abdel Karim al-Iryani, political adviser to Mr.Saleh, would lead the government delegation in Riyadh.
But the opposition refused to go to Riyadh as the president would not sign the text. "We are ready to go to Riyadh, but on condition that Saleh sign," he told AFP an official of the Common Front.
"Mr.Saleh is ready to sign the document in his capacity as chairman of GIC but not as president of the republic, "replied the deputy secretary general of the GPC, Sultan Al-Barakani.
The opposition had in recent days accused the regime of seeking to torpedo the agreement and has blamed a "savage massacre" after the death of 13 demonstrators in Sanaa.
Demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Saleh, in power for 32 years, since late last January and made more than 145 dead.
On Saturday, two soldiers and four civilians were killed in Aden, the main city in southern Yemen, in exchanges of fire between soldiers and gunmen, according to the Defense Ministry and hospital officials.
At the call of the protesters, the city of Aden, one of the hotbeds of protest, was paralyzed by a general strike.
