Yemen's Saleh authorizes power transfer talks

AFP
September 12, 2011
Sana'a: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has authorized his deputy to negotiate a power transfer with the opposition, finally agreeing to a proposal by Gulf countries to put an end to a months-long political crisis, the state news agency Saba said Monday.
It said that Saleh, who has been absent from the country for more than three months, "has given the vice president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi the necessary constitutional authority to negotiate" the power transfer mechanism with the opposition, Saba said.
The presidential decree authorizes Hadi to sign on Saleh's behalf the so-called Gulf Initiative, which was proposed by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and calls for a power transfer.
Hadi can "agree on a time-frame... and sign" the agreement, according to the decree.