Yemen planning to keep Saleh in power

YEMEN’S acting leader has put forward a new plan to end the country’s political stalemate, which would keep President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power longer than previously outlined.

Saleh, who flew to neighbouring Saudi Arabia last month following an assassination attempt, has clung to power despite international pressure and six months of protests against his 33-year rule.

A Gulf Arab initiative that would have seen Saleh resign 30 days after signing it fell through three times when he backed out at the last minute, leaving the country in political limbo.

However, an opposition leader said vice-president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is at the helm while Saleh recovers, had approached the opposition with an alternative plan.

“The essence of these ideas is to begin the transitional period by forming one national government led by the opposition and changing the date of presidential elections from 60 days to a longer period, without transferring power completely to the vice president,” said the opposition figure, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The new plan is a step backwards for the opposition, which had hoped Saleh’s time was up when he left the country to get medical treatment after a bomb exploded in his presidential palace. But while veteran leaders in Egypt and Tunisia have bowed to popular demands and quit, Saleh has survived against the odds.

A second senior opposition member said they would not back down: “We are prepared to deal positively with the initiative on the condition that power is transferred to the vice-president first.”

Saleh has not made a speech since the attack, although the defence ministry website yesterday said he had recorded a speech which would be “broadcast within hours”.

On Wednesday, at least 10 soldiers were killed in a fresh attack by militants on an army base near the southern town of Zinjibar, where a brigade has been trapped for more than a month.

Yemen’s south has descended into bloodshed in recent months, with Islamist militants, suspected of links to al-Qaida, seizing two cities in the flashpoint province of Abyan, including Zinjibar, its capital.