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Yemeni president agrees to step down within 30 days
AP
Photo
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh smiles while looking at his supporters, not pictured, during a rally in his support, in Sanaa,Yemen, Friday, April 22, 2011. Opponents and supporters of Yemen's embattled president are marching in cities and towns across the nation for rival rallies after Friday prayers.
Associated Press
SANAA, Yemen
Yemen’s embattled president agreed Saturday to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.
A coalition of seven opposition parties said they also accepted the deal but with reservations. Even if the differences are overcome, those parties do not speak for all of the hundreds of thousands of protesters seeking President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster, and signs were emerging that a deal on those terms would not end confrontations in the streets.
A day earlier, protesters staged the largest of two months of demonstrations, filling a five-lane boulevard across the capital with a sea of hundreds of thousands of people. Days of protest have presented a stunning display of defiance in the face of a crackdown that has killed more than 130 people.
The uprising and a wave of defections by allies, including several top military commanders, have left Saleh clinging to power and now appear to be pushing him to compromise on his earlier refusal to leave office before his term ends in 2013.
For decades, the former military officer has fended off numerous challenges, deftly maneuvering among the nation’s powerful and fractious tribes and using security forces to put down opponents. Al-Qaida’s most-active franchise has attacked his forces, an armed rebellion has battered the north of the country, and a secessionist movement has reappeared in the once-independent south.
The country is running out of water and oil and is the poorest in the Arab world.