Yemen gov’t announces power-transfer again

Chiara Onassis | 19 November 2011

SANA’A: According to government sources, the GCC proposal and its implementation mechanisms could be signed as early as next week, both in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital.

Vice-President Abdu Rabbo Mansoor Hadi is said to have been charged with the task of inking the agreement on behalf of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The news was however, received with caution from the opposition, as Saleh has already backed out on his promises no less than four times in a row, despite fervent promises that he was committed to solving the political deadlock and ease Yemen onto the road of recovery and national reconciliation.

Interestingly, nothing was said on the part of the regime on the “sticky points” which so far prevented Saleh from agreeing to the power-transfer, such as the restructuration of the military, the official handing over of the president’s official resignation from office and the matter of the early presidential elections.

UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar is ending his visit in the country after a marathon negotiation round with the regime and the opposition as he is due to hand over his report on the situation on a few days back at the UN Security Council.

The regime is still accusing the opposition of stalling the signature process as some of its leaders are still out of the country, looking for yet more international support in the Arabic Peninsula.

As for Tawakkul Karman, the champion of the Youth Movement, she continues her lobbying of the immunity clause at the United Nations, urging nations to consider the negative effects such an agreement could have on International Laws as it would equate to condoning mass murder and crimes against humanity, negating the very foundations upon which the UN were built upon and swore to protect.