Yemen added to Security Council agenda

19 April 2011

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will on Tuesday discuss for the first time the mounting crisis in Yemen where the opposition has stepped up demands that President Ali Abdullah Saleh give up power, diplomats said.

The 15-nation Security Council's first formal meeting on Yemen will start at 1900 GMT on Tuesday, following a proposition by Germany, diplomats said.

"It is a sign of the growing attention that Yemen is attracting after Egypt, Tunisia and Libya," said a UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. The meeting which will be briefed by a top UN political affairs official.

Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers will also meet a Sanaa government delegation in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to discuss an initiative to end the standoff.

Protesters have been demanding since January that Saleh end his three decade rule. More than 125 people have been killed in the protests.

In the latest demonstrations on Monday, residents took to the streets in the Red Sea city of Al-Hudaydah to protest against the use of force by security forces who attacked demonstrators in the capital Sanaa on Sunday with firearms and tear gas, wounding 30 people, a medical source said.