Yemen deal ‘could be signed within a week’

A GULF Arab deal for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power could be finalised within a week, Gulf officials said, as Yemen struggles to end a political crisis that threatens to plunge it into chaos.

A senior opposition leader said the secretary-general of the Gulf Co-operation Council, Abdullatif al-Zayani, was expected to visit the capital Sanaa within days to determine the time and venue for signing a deal requiring Saleh to step down within 30 days.

“We expect an arrangement and signing of a deal to be completed — the sooner the better,” said opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is seen as a top candidate to lead a transitional government.

Yemen’s Western and Gulf Arab allies have tried for weeks to mediate a solution to a three-month crisis in which protesters, inspired by the toppling of leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, have taken to the street demanding an end to Saleh’s 32-year rule.

Yesterday snipers firing from rooftops killed an anti-government protester in Taiz, south of Sanaa.

Washington and neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia fear that a descent into further bloodshed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, long on the brink of collapse, would offer more room for a Yemen-based al-Qaida regional wing to operate.

One opposition official said a Gulf-brokered deal might be signed on Thursday or Saturday in Riyadh, but that was not confirmed.

But in a sign that a deal was not yet certain, a Gulf official said while the meeting in Riyadh could see a deal signed, it could also be a forum for direct talks between the sides to haggle out the final terms.

“A specific day has not been fixed, but there will be a meeting next week either to complete the negotiations or to sign a deal,” the official said.