Saleh describes GCC's statment as “blatant interference"

Army officers and protesters during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Saleh Yemen anti-regime protesters have rejected a proposal from mediating Gulf states that embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh should pass power to his deputy, a leading activist said Monday. We are not concerned by any solution negotiated between the regime and the opposition that does not answer our main demand: the fall of the regime and its figures," said Adel Al Rabyi, from the Youth for Change coalition of protest groups that have led demonstrations across the country since late January.

"We do not accept the hijacking of our revolution," Rabyi told AFP, insisting that he spoke on behalf of all youth groups in Sana'a and other major cities hit by deadly protests.
Foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Sunday called on Yemen’s Saleh to hand over power to his Vice-President Abdraboo Mansour Hadi and allow the opposition to lead a transitional unity government, reports said.
The GCC will facilitate a meeting in Saudi Arabia for Saleh’s government and the opposition to discuss Yemen’s unity, security and stability, said a statement after the foreign ministers’ meeting. No date was scheduled for such a meeting.
An opposition-led transitional government would prepare for constitutional reforms and new elections in Yemen, the statement added.
The GCC foreign ministers’ second meeting in a week underscored the group’s keen to resolve the Yemen crisis.
“It is vital to reach a solution to the current crisis in Yemen, which has “special status to all GCC countries” by consensus, said Turki Al Sudairi, Editor-in-Chief of the Saudi newspaper Al Riyadh.
Mediation efforts
“Otherwise, even if the crisis ended with reconciliation, another crisis will erupt after a few months or even less,” Al Sudairi told Gulf News, stressing that the GCC countries are “keen to end the Yemeni conflict”.
Saleh has rejected a Qatari statement hoping to reach a deal with Saleh to step down. Saleh slammed the statement as “blatant interference in Yemeni affairs.”
Yemen responded by recalling its ambassador to Doha and shutting down the office of Al Jazeera satellite TV in Sana’a and revoking its permit.
Many Yemeni opposition figures hoped the GCC would continue its mediation efforts.
“Stability in Yemen is the stability of the GCC, and security in Yemen is security of the GCC,” Sultan Al Atwani, Secretary-General of the Nasserite Unionist People’s Organisation, told Gulf News.
Al Atwani is also a member of the higher council of the coalition of the political parties.
Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and nearly 40 people injured in fresh protests in Taiz and Sana’a.

From Gulfnews