Saudi to donate oil to end Yemen's fuel crisis

Saudi Arabia decided to donate oil to end fuel shortage crisis in its impoverished neighbor Yemen, the Yemeni state Saba news agency reported Monday. "King Abdullah has decided to donate enough amount of crude oil to Yemen to help end its fuel shortage crisis," Saba cited an official statement as saying. The decision was made during a telephone conversation on Monday between Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, according to the statement. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia gave an aid of three million barrels of crude oil in June to help alleviate Yemen's acute fuel shortage that triggered by months-long protests demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. On Nov. 23, Saleh's party, General People's Congress, and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties signed the power-transfer initiative in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, in an attempt to conclude the political crisis. Under the deal, early presidential elections in Yemen are set to be held on Feb. 21, 2012, while Saleh retains the title of honorary president for 90 days before his resignation and is granted immunity from prosecution.