With president ill, Yemeni factions consider deal to transfer his power

SANAA, Yemen -- Yemen's acting president agreed Monday with opposition parties to begin discussions on how to transfer power from the country's embattled president, an opposition spokesman said.

The official, Abdullah Oubal, said the agreement provided for the opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ruling party to open a dialogue to find a way to ease Saleh out of office in accordance with proposals put forward by Yemen's Gulf neighbors. Saleh has publicly accepted the proposals in the past, but has been evasive about implementing them.

Monday's agreement may not end the country's political impasse or prevent renewed clashes between forces loyal to Saleh and armed tribesmen opposed to his rule. However, it suggests that the acting president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, is exercising his constitutional powers despite the vast influence wielded by Saleh's inner circle and family.

The meeting was the first between an alliance of opposition parties and Hadi, who has been Yemen's acting president since Saleh left for Saudi Arabia on June 5 for medical treatment from wounds he suffered in an attack on his compound in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

A senior Yemeni official in the Saudi capital, where Saleh is hospitalized, said today that the president's condition was stable but not improving.

Monday's meeting, thought to have been convened under Western pressure, took place at Hadi's Sanaa residence, which witnesses said was surrounded by members of the special forces, an elite outfit led by Saleh's son and one-time heir apparent, Ahmed.