Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to sign a transition of power deal on Sunday, saying it would push the country towards civil war. Saleh has said al Qaeda militants could fill a political and security vacuum if he is forced out and, in a televised speech on Sunday, blamed the opposition for the deal's collapse.
"If (Yemen) is engulfed in a civil war, they will be responsible for it and the bloodshed," he said. The deal would have made Saleh the third long-entrenched leader ousted by popular protests buffeting the Arab world since January.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional wing, are keen to end the Yemeni stalemate to avert a spread of anarchy that could give the global militant network more room to thrive.
The failure of intense diplomatic efforts to secure a deal came after armed Yemeni government loyalists trapped Western and Gulf ambassadors - serving as mediators in the crisis - for hours in an embassy in Sanaa before they left by helicopter. "It failed," a diplomat told Reuters after the deal fell through at the last minute, for the third time. Diplomats said five members of the ruling party signed the deal, but Saleh refused, demanding additional conditions.
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