Gulf pact to renew Yemen mediation

Gulf states said on Sunday they are to renew efforts to end a deadly political crisis in Yemen, after the opposition accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh of having torpedoed their bid at the weekend. The Gulf Co-operation Council "hopes to remove all the obstacles still standing in the path of achieving a final agreement," the six-nation grouping of Yemen's oil-rich Arab neighbours said after a meeting in Riyadh.
GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani is to "go back to Sanaa with this aim," it said, without specifying a date. Delegations from Saleh's ruling party and the Common Forum opposition coalition had been expected to join GCC foreign ministers in the Saudi capital on Sunday to sign the deal ahead of Saleh's exit.
"There is no longer an invitation. The general secretary of the GCC left yesterday without the president's signature, so the initiative has failed," opposition official Mohammed al-Sabri told AFP earlier. Zayani left Sanaa on Saturday after failing to have Saleh endorse the GCC-proposed deal to end Yemen's three-month-old crisis, but the meeting of Gulf foreign ministers went ahead as scheduled in Riyadh.
"Four sessions of talks were held to convince him (Saleh), and every time he came up with a new condition," Sabri said. The Common Forum, in a statement, has held the regime "completely responsible for ruining the (Gulf) effort" and accused Saleh of "manoeuvring ... to gain time in an effort to push the country into chaos." They urged impoverished Yemen's Arab neighbours to "continue with their efforts ... and to exert all sorts of pressure to stop the violence and killing of peaceful protesters." Another leading opposition figure, Sultan al-Atwani, head of the Unionist Nasserist Party, urged the Arab monarchies of the GCC to pressure Saleh to sign the deal.
The GCC deal proposes the formation of an opposition-led government of national unity, Saleh transferring power to his vice president and an end to the deadly protests that have rocked the country since late January.