Reuters/Sanaa/Aden

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration to demand the ouster of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Taez yesterday

Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh is refusing to hand over power and resisting a UN-backed plan to end months of political paralysis that has brought the impoverished state to its knees, opposition sources said yesterday.
Saleh has withstood nine months of protests against his rule and international pressure on him to quit, three times agreeing to a Gulf-brokered power transition plan only to back out of signing it at the very last minute. 
Mediators, diplomats and Saleh’s deputy had said in recent weeks they were close to clinching a deal, but a senior member of the opposition told Reuters the veteran leader was stalling once again.  
“Saleh wants to preserve all his powers until the election of a new president and that is rejected by the opposition and because of this the UN envoy’s mission is going to fail,” said the opposition figure who declined to be identified.
UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who left Yemen empty-handed in September after two weeks of shuttle diplomacy between the opposition and the ruling party, returned to Sanaa last week in a fresh push to persuade Saleh to leave office.
Under an “operational mechanism” proposed by Benomar to implement the Gulf initiative, Saleh would step down immediately, triggering the formation of a national unity government ahead of early presidential elections. A body would also be set up to restructure the armed forces.
Deputy information minister Abdo al-Janadi said in a news conference yesterday Saleh had agreed to entrust his deputy with forming the national unity government, but made no mention of Saleh resigning.
Janadi also blamed violence that has killed at least 17 people over the past two days in Yemen’s commercial capital Taez on a “dangerous escalation” instigated by armed members of the opposition. Witnesses, residents and medical staff blamed shelling by government forces.
The UN Security Council last month issued a resolution urging Saleh to follow through with the Gulf initiative and deploring the bloodshed.  
Yemen’s army and tribal fighters killed nine suspected Al Qaeda militants overnight in Zinjibar, a city in the southern province of Abyan, which has been sliding towards lawlessness while the wrangling over Saleh’s fate goes on.