Yemen transition calls continue to grow

Sana'a:  An escalating anti-regime campaign was yesterday seeking a transition rather than more concessions from Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, as rival military units clashed for the second time this week.

Yemen's disparate opposition brushed aside new concessions as having come too late and focused on working behind the scenes on a transition which could spare the country a brutal civil war, political sources said.

Ahead of another escalation on the weekly day of prayers and rest, Saleh urged his supporters to hold a mass show of support today in a Sana'a square close to his presidential palace.

Even if deserted by longtime military, political, tribal and clerical backers, the veteran leader dubbed the event "Friday of Tolerance" countering the pro-change slogans of anti-regime demonstrators around the Arab world.

On Wednesday, parliament voted to pass a state of emergency declared by Saleh on March 18, just hours after regime loyalists gunned down more than 50 protesters outside their Sana'a University camp set up two months ago.

In theory, the measure outlaws demonstrations and would allow the regime to gag the media.

Bloody showdown

The opposition has said it will hold off until next Friday to march on the presidential palace for what many fear could prove a bloody final showdown.

Meanwhile, leader of Yemen's largest tribe sided yesterday with opponents of the embattled president, calling for Saleh to step down immediately and refrain from further violence against protesters.

The decision by the widely respected Shaikh Sinan Abu Lohoum, 80, was announced in a statement issued from the United States, where he is receiving medical treatment. It was read to protesters gathered at a central Sana'a square that has become the epicentre of the protests. Members of Abu Lohoum's immediate family confirmed the authenticity of the statement. Abu Lohoum's Baqeel tribe is the larger of two that follow the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite. The other — Saleh's own Hashed tribe — has already backed the opposition.

Saleh, in power for three decades, has offered his foes a deal on forming a unity government, drawing up a new electoral law, holding a legislative poll, and his successor to be named by the end of 2011 by newly-elected MPs. "But we don't want any more concessions. We just want the president to leave, and quickly," Rashad Al Sharaabi, a member of a youth committee which has been a key player behind the uprising, told AFP.

He said behind-the-scenes consultations were taking place for a peaceful transition of power.

"We want a civil society, not a military regime," cautioned the activist.

Yesterday, fresh clashes in Mukalla, southeast Yemen, between the regular army and elite Republican Guard loyal to Saleh left three wounded, witnesses and medics said. The fighting pitted soldiers under the orders of a regional commander who has rallied to the side of anti-Saleh protesters and the Republican Guards, witnesses said.

On Monday, two soldiers were killed near a presidential palace in Mukalla. With fears of violence on the rise, Britain announced on Wednesday it was withdrawing most staff from its embassy in Sana'a and "strongly urged" any nationals still in the Yemeni capital to leave.