Truce holds as Yemen protesters bury their dead

SANAA: A tenuous truce held in Yemen's capital but tensions still ran high early Wednesday following three days of clashes between rival troops and attacks on anti-regime protesters that left dozens dead.

Government security forces were heavily deployed as protesters prepared to bury those killed in the worst outbreak of violence in Sanaa in months, but the streets were quiet, an AFP correspondent said .

Late Tuesday, the Yemeni defence ministry declared a ceasefire on orders of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. The opposition forces, headed by dissident General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, complied.

The truce came after the three bloodiest days since mass anti-government protests calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign erupted in January.

At least 76 people, mostly unarmed protesters, were killed and hundreds wounded since Sunday as security forces used live fire, including heavy calibre machine guns, to disperse the crowds, which according to some estimates topped 150,000.

One Sanaa resident said he's not optimistic the truce will hold.

"The situation is still tense ... the fighting and clashes could erupt at any time," said Abdel Rahman, 32, adding that though Sanaa was relatively quiet overnight, there had been intermittent gunfire.

Meanwhile, the protesters have called for a "mass" funeral procession to honour their dead.

In a statement released by the Youth Revolutionary Organisation, the group said the procession would begin just after noon prayers and follow the path from the mosque to a cemetery near Change Square, the base of anti-government protesters.

On the diplomatic front, foreign officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity said a meeting between Hadi and UN and regional envoys was expected later Wednesday.

UN Yemen envoy Jamal Benomar and Gulf Cooperation Council chef Abdulatif al-Zayani arrived in Yemen Tuesday in the hopes of finalising agreements on the transfer of power from Saleh to his deputy.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011