The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association (FPA) and, due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous.
Following a statement made on national television, an aide to Ali Abdullah Saleh informed Yemen that the President had indeed agreed to resign under the latest GCC proposal.
This news comes a day after the biggest pro-democracy rally the nation has ever witnessed. About 2 millions of Yemenis gathered in the capital to demonstrate against the rule of the 69 year-old dictator. And just as Saleh appeared determined to stay on, amidst rumors of military intervention, diplomacy might after all have succeeded.
The GCC Proposal
Under this latest proposal, the Gulf Nation Council asks for Saleh to hand over power to his Vice-President within a month of signing the agreement.
The President would appoint a member of the opposition of his choosing to lead the new interim government. The cabinet would then have the responsibility of organizing the next presidential elections within a timeframe of 2 months.
According to the proposal, Yemenis would have to immediately stop all demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience.
But most importantly, this plan guarantees Saleh, his family and close aides total immunity from legal proceedings.
A Ruler Under Pressure
According to sources close to the President, senior members of the People’s Congress, which is the ruling party, have been insisted that Saleh agree to the GCC offer.
In the light of Friday’s mass protests across the nation and the growing number of defections within the army, many have felt that it was time for him to step aside.
A member of the party also mentioned that many within the net of power felt increasingly wary of the economic repercussions that a lasting political conflict would create. Yemen is the poorest country of the Arab Peninsula and many economists have warned against a financial meltdown if the crisis was to continue.
The Opposition
Mohamed Qahtan, the spokesman of the Opposition has now said that the party was willing to accept the deal, just as long as the Parliament agreed to not refuse the Presidential resignation. Under the Yemeni Constitution, a President has to present his resignation to the Parliament which in turn has to accept it at the ballot box.
However, if the Opposition is eager to resolve the current crisis, this decision has yet to be favorably received by those behind the popular uprising.
For many months now the Youth has been demanding Justice and this news of immunity might become a “sticky” point.
Just as the stalemate in between the President and his political opponents is about to be broken, some might feel that Yemen has been robbed of its Revolution.
For all those Yemenis turned activists by the hand of History, who have for weeks braved the bullets and batons of a repressive regime, it might not be so easy to go home.
And who will dare trust a President who has systematically broken every oath he took?
And who will speak for those martyrs, fallen by the hand of a tyrant who claimed their blood to stay in power? What of them?
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