Massive demos continue across Yemen Yemeni

AFP, 17 April, 2011 - 17H18   (France 24)

Massive protests took place across Yemen on Sunday demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, as the opposition joined a Gulf Arab meeting in Riyadh on a plan for the leader's departure.

Security forces deployed heavily in Sanaa where hundreds of thousands of men and women took to the streets in protest against Saleh's call for an end to men and women joining together in anti-regime protests, and calling for his ouster.

Protesters also took to the streets in the cities of Taez and Ibb, south of Sanaa, and the Red Sea city of Al-Hudaydah, the organisers said.

"We want to overthrow the regime and to bring the assailant to justice," read their banners.

The demonstrations come as foreign ministers of the oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies are to meet with a delegation from the poverty-striken country's opposition in Riyadh who will ask for clarification on the Gulf initiative on Saleh's departure.

The Common Forum, an alliance of the parliamentary opposition, has made Saleh's departure a prerequisite for any political settlement, while the Gulf Cooperation Council's bid to resolve the crisis calls for him to hand over power to his vice-president.

Saleh's office has said in response to the mediation bid of the six-nation GCC he has "no reservation about transferring power peacefully and smoothly within the framework of the constitution".

More than 125 people are estimated to have been killed since protests calling for Saleh's ouster erupted in late January, inspired by uprisings which toppled long-time rulers in Tunisia and Egypt.

Gulf ministers to meet over Yemen crisis

17 April 2011 - 10H23  

AFP -

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh addresses supporters during a pro-regime rally in Sana'a on Friday. Gulf foreign ministers will meet in the Saudi capital on Sunday to discuss the crisis in Yemen, after proposing an exit plan for Saleh.

Gulf foreign ministers will meet in the Saudi capital on Sunday to discuss the crisis in Yemen, after proposing an exit plan for embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, the third in two weeks, will "discuss the Gulf initiative concerning the situation in Yemen," said the Saudi state news agency SPA late Saturday.

Ministers from the six member-states of the oil-rich bloc would hold talks mainly regarding their agreement in past meetings to "hold contacts with the government and opposition in Yemen," it said.

After their latest meeting on April 10, GCC ministers announced a proposal for Saleh to transfer power to his vice president, and for the formation of an opposition-led unity government.

Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, has since January faced protests calling for him to quit. More than 125 people have been killed.

Yemen's parliamentary opposition, which insists on Saleh's immediate departure before talks over the country's future, said Saturday it will send a delegation to Riyadh on Sunday for "consultations" over the GCC proposal.

On Friday, Saleh stood defiant as the elected president of the impoverished country, as supporters amassed near the presidential palace.

"These popular masses -- these millions -- in this square have come to say 'yes' to constitutional legitimacy," Saleh told the crowd of tens of thousands.