Sana'a: Yemeni opposition parties agreed late on Saturday on a plan for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power.
After an exceptional meeting held by opposition leaders, the spokesman of the opposition coalition, Mohammad Qahtan said on Saturday the plan will be announced in a few hours.
"The ball would then be in the President's court," Qahtan said without revealing further details.
Sources said negotiations between Saleh and the opposition with western mediators did not stop from last week.
"I'm expecting a solution in the coming days for this crisis," a source close to the negotiations which include American and European diplomats.
"The meetings and negotiations did not stop from last Saturday March 26th, 2011," the sources added.
Saleh said on Friday he would sacrifice himself for Yemen, a statement which was widely interpreted that he would step down.
"I would sacrifice myself for you and for the Yemeni people," Saleh told about 2 million of his supporters who staged rallies in the two big squares at the capital, Tahrir and Al Sabeen and the streets around them.
The state-run media estimated the people in the rally of Al Sabeen Square at 4 million and those who participated in all provinces at 10 million.
Saleh's supporters, who called their mass action as "Friday of Brotherhood and Tolerance", were chanting "Yes for security and stability! Yes for constitutional legitimacy."
Saleh's supporters came from all over the country. They were chanting: "The people want Ali Abdullah Saleh! The people want Ali Abdullah Saleh!"
The opposition media estimated their supporters in Sana'a at 1.5 million while those who participated in the "Friday of Liberation" in about 15 provinces were placed at 5 million.
Saleh has not stepped down yet despite the masses of the "Friday of Liberation" which came after the "Friday of Departure" as his detractors and protesters called them.
Saleh was very brief on his speech on Friday He said he would not answer to anyone, in an obvious reference to the opposition media which cast doubt on his popularity.
Saleh thanked his supporters and promised to sacrifice himself for them.
However, the protesters and opposition parties wanted him to just sacrifice his post and not his life.
"We do not want him to sacrifice himself for us, we want him only to sacrifice his post and go," said the 27-year-old Adel Abdu Arrabyee, a member of the media committee, at the sit-in camps, the Change Square, at the gate of university.
"We , the youth of revolution, would assure President Saleh that we would not be with his political opponents, but we would be with the new Yemen. Yemen of freedom, Yemen of democracy, Yemen of the civil state."
Observers, however, said that Saleh's sacrifice means he would step down after finding a safe and honourable exit in the non-stop negotiations going on behind the scenes.
Journalist arrested
A journalist close to an army general who had defected was arrested.
The journalist, Abdul Gani Al Shamiri, was arrested by security authorities at his home early on Friday, sources said.
Al Shamiri was the media person of Ali Muhsen, the powerful army general who declared his support for the peaceful revolution against Saleh earlier last month.
"Al Shamiri was the one who writes the statements and who answers the questions of the interviews with Ali Muhsen," said the sources.
"He was just answering written questions and sending them back to the media outlet," the source added.
The Yemen opposition has agreed on a five-point plan for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power:
1. Saleh should announce his stepping down and transfer all his powers to his deputy Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
2. Hadi should immediately re-structure the security agencies - the national security, the central security and the Republican guards - to make them function according to the Constitution and laws far from nepotism [these three agencies are run now by two nephews and a son of Saleh].
3. Reaching a compromise with the new president (Hadi) about the transitional power through the following :
a) A transitional council in which all parties and categories, including the youth and women, should be formed for conducting a comprehensive dialogue with everyone inside and outside Yemen, about all issues, including the issue of the South and creation of a civil state based on parliamentary and proportional electoral system.
b) Formation of a committee of experts to carry out constitutional reforms in light of the results of the dialogue.
c) Formation of a national unity government chaired by the opposition, in which all parties and categories, including the young people should be represented.
d) A temporary council of respected military commanders in which all components should be represented including those military officers and commanders who were forced to retire after the 1994 war.
4. Formation of a high commission on elections and referendum, to conduct the referendum on the new constitution and conduct parliamentary and presidential elections.
5. Confirmation of the right to peaceful demonstrations and expressions, and investigations into the attacks on the demonstrators especially the massacres in Aden , Sana’a and Abyan, and put those responsible on trial and compensate the families of those who were killed and injured.
Earlier on Saturday night, the opposition parties agreed on a plan for Saleh to transfer the power. After an exceptional meeting held by the opposition leaders, the spokesman of the opposition coalition, Mohammad Qah’tan said the steps of this plan will be announced soon. “And the ball would be in the Presidnet’s court,” Qah’tan said with any further details.
Five-point plan for Saleh to step down
