Transition deal stalled in Yemen
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The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) deal about Yemen's power transfer was hindered as President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition refused to sign it successively on Saturday.
GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani arrived in Sanaa earlier Saturday in an official visit to get Saleh's signature of the deal and to deliver the formal invitations to the representatives of Yemen's ruling party and the opposition for attending the signing ceremony in Riyadh.
In his meeting with Saleh, the latter refused to sign the deal personally, and said he will sign it after representatives of his ruling party inks it in Riyadh's signing ceremony, an official at Saleh's office told Xinhua.
The official said on condition of anonymity that "President Saleh told al-Zayani, who asked him to sign the deal on Saturday, that he will not sign the agreement as Yemeni president today and he leaves ratification to his official representatives of the ruling party because the deal is between political parties, not with him."
Saleh said the representatives of the ruling party were responsible for negotiating and signing, according to the official.
"After the representatives of the ruling party and the opposition sign it in Riyadh, I will then adopt it and sign it," Saleh told al-Zayani during their discussion in the capital of Sanaa, according to the official.
"It would be illegal if Saleh signs this agreement first," the official said, adding this did not mean that Saleh refused the GCC plan, but rather he welcomed it and accepted it, but the deal must be inked by his representatives and the opposition at first in Riyadh.
Yemeni opposition then announced that they will not go to Riyadh for the signing ceremony which was scheduled to be held on Sunday after Saleh refused to sign the GCC deal, opposition's spokesman Mohamed Qahtan told Xinhua.
"The representatives of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties ( JMP) will not go to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, neither on Sunday nor on Monday," Qahtan said, adding that "We are waiting for the GCC foreign ministers to declare their position towards Saleh's refusal."
Qahtan made the remarks an hour after al-Zayani left Sanaa who failed to get Saleh's signature.
An official of the JMP said Saleh's refusal and what he assigned to his representatives on Saturday violated the terms of the GCC initiative. The official, who requested to be anonymous, expressed his fear that Saleh's new position could indicate a new political game for gaining more time.
Meanwhile, the ruling party General People's Congress (GPC) said in a statement on its website on Saturday that GPC representatives were ready to head for Riyadh to attend the signing ceremony of the GCC plan with the opposition's representatives.
The West-backed GCC plan stipulated that the JMP should form a national unity government within seven days after signing the deal to end the months-long street protests.
Under the plan, Saleh should leave office within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution, and the new government should arrange presidential and parliamentary elections in 60 days.
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Saleh has earlier said that he and his representatives of the ruling party would not sign any deal if the Qatari representatives attended the signing ceremony in Riyadh.
Protesters went to streets across the country on Saturday to repeat demands for an immediately end to Saleh's 33-year rule and the rejection to the immunity given to Saleh by the GCC initiative.
Two of the protesters were shot dead and 50 others were wounded in clashes with police forces in the country's southern port city of Aden, according to witnesses.
