Yemeni ruling party blames defectors for hindering power transfer

SANAA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni ruling party on Thursday blamed pro-opposition defected army and dissident armed tribesmen for hampering the achievement of the UN-backed Gulf initiative for transferring power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh, local media reported.

"Every time we (the ruling party) and the opposition leaders approach a compromise to implement the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) initiative and end the crisis, the opposition's allies of the defected army and dissident armed tribesmen disrupted the situation militarily either in Sanaa or Taiz," 26 September newspaper cited Ahmed bin Daghar, assistant secretary-general of the ruling party, as saying.

"What is happening now in Taiz is linking to opposing the ongoing peaceful solutions, especially after the renegade forces' leaders realized that they won't be protected by the GCC initiative or the UN resolution and will be brought to justice for involving in the June attack on the presidential palace," bin Daghar said.

The government accused defected general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the commander of the First Armored Division, and powerful tribal leader Sadiq al-Ahmar and his brother Hameed of masterminding an " assassination" bomb attack which hit the presidential compound on June 3, killing at least 13 high-ranking military and government officials and injuring 87 others, including Saleh. However, the opposition coalition denied the accusation on August 7.

The June attack took place a few days after pitched street battles between al-Ahmar's tribal fighters and Saleh's forces flared in downtown Sanaa following Saleh's refusal to sign the GCC deal on May 22.

Meanwhile, during a meeting with U.S. ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein on Wednesday, al-Ahmar said that "he supports the protesters' demand of canceling the immunity from prosecution of Saleh or any of his aides."

The GCC initiative, which was backed by the UN resolution on Oct. 21, stipulates Saleh to hand over power to his deputy Abd- Rabbu Mansour Hadi and quit in 30 days in return for immunity from prosecution. Hadi would then form an opposition-led national government and arrange presidential elections in 60 days.

Saleh has backed out of signing the initiative for three times in the last minutes, confronting the 10-month-old protests.