Yemen's opposition parties said Tuesday they will soon sign a deal mediated by neighbouring Gulf countries for the embattled president to step down, possibly defusing months of deadly government protests across this impoverished Arab nation. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years, has already agreed to the proposal that would create a national unity government and have him transfer power to his vice president within 30 days of the deal being signed.
In exchange, Saleh and his family would received immunity from prosecution. But the proposal, put forward by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council, appears to have opened a serious rift between opposition parties and the hundreds of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets daily since February to demand Saleh's immediate resignation. The coalition of youth groups behind the two-month-old uprising rejected the deal, and in a statement called for nation-wide civil disobedience between 8 am and noon on Wednesday. The groups vowed to repeat this action every Saturday and Wednesday until Saleh steps down.
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