Gulf Nations Offer Yemen’s Leader an Exit Plan
By LAURA KASINOF
Published: April 21, 2011
CAIRO — The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council traveled to the Yemeni capital, Sana, on Thursday to offer the embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a deal to solve Yemen’s current political crisis. A Yemeni government statement promised an official response within 24 hours.
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The arrangement calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, and sets up new presidential elections 60 days later, a Yemeni official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It also calls for an immediate end to protests.
The plan was finalized after council members and Yemeni officials met for two days in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It adheres in part to a draft promoted by the United States and the European Union, which also allows immunity from prosecution for Mr. Saleh and his family.
The opposition, which is also examining the plan, is reluctant to promise an end to demonstrations. There have been at least three other plans on the table over the past month, all drafted by different domestic and international players. So far, not one has brought about a solution. The political standoff has left the country with no cabinet, a divided army and many high-level posts unfilled after Yemeni officials resigned to support protests calling for Mr. Saleh’s ouster.
An opposition leader, Mohammed Abdulmalik al-Mutawakil, said that another reservation about the new proposal was its lack of clarity over what would happen to the divisions of the army that the president’s son and nephews control. An overwhelming distrust of Mr. Saleh colors the debate.
“The first thing is that no one trusts him at all,” Mr. Mutawakil said. “Who can guarantee that everything will be carried out?”
The opposition has a number of strands. Mr. Mutawakil is from a relatively long-established political coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties. But a separate youth protest movement has been a driving force in the months of demonstrations, and its members say they feel they are being left out of the debate on a deal involving Mr. Saleh. While the coalition says it is inclusive, some of the young protesters say it embraces only youths who are already among its members. They also consider the J.M.P. too wedded to the current establishment.
“They are part of this regime,” said a youth protest leader, Salah Sharafi, speaking in English from the long-running sit-in in front of Sana University.
“If they are with the revolution,” he said, “they won’t accept any initiative from G.C.C. or from the United States, unless it’s conditional with his stepping down firstly.”
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