opposition will be as bad as Saleh if they sign GCC deal, protesters say

Opposition and protesters divided over ending Yemen unrest
By Nasser Arrabyee/08/05/2011

The Yemeni independent protesters said the opposition parties would be politically dead if they signed a GCC deal for power transfer.

“Those ambitious leaders would be in the same group with Saleh and would be politically dead if they signed,” said a statement issued by the civil coalition of youth revolution, a big group made up of 10 liberal and secular sub-coalitions.

The statement referred clearly and particularly to Hamid Al Ahmar who is the most significant signatory. Mohammed Basendaw is the chairman of the 15-member team that would sign the GCC deal from the opposition side.

Basendaw is the chairman of the “National committee for dialogue” which was made and funded by the Islamic leader and billionaire Hamid Al Ahmar who has been grooming himself for presidency since 2006.

Calls for marching forward to the Presidential Palace to force Saleh out, increased notably over the last two days by young protesters who refused the GCC and refused the Islamist-led opposition coalition which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites(Arab Nationalists).

But, Sunday May 8th, 2011, “the supreme committee for regulation of the youth and popular revolution”, in charge of regulating about 400 youth coalitions, the majority of them come from Islamist party Islah, said the protesters must not march forward.

“The calls for marching forward to the Presidential Palace on Monday are coming from suspicious groups with the aim of thwarting the peaceful revolution and confusing the planning,” said a statement by this committee on Sunday.

However, one day earlier, the same committee said the protesters should escalate their protests by using the “ revolutionary styles of attack and defense”.

Meanwhile, the opposition coalition threatened to leave President alone with the “popular revolution” if he did not sign the GCC deal within two days only.

In an official statement Sunday they said they would only sign the GCC deal that was handed to them on April 21, 2011, by the GCC chief Abdul Latif Al Zayani.

The major change after April 21 was that a total of 30 persons, 15 from the ruling party and its allies, and 15 from the opposition parties and their allies were listed to sign the deal rather than only two.

The two sides are maneuvering for more political gains before signing the US-backed and Saudi-led GCC deal by which President Saleh will step down in one month from signing.
The assistant secretary general of the ruling party, Ahmed Obaid bin Dghar, said Sunday Saleh would not step down before removing the causes of security tensions like ending the protests, ending the military defection, and also ending Al Houthi rebellion in the north and separation movement in the south.

The final goal of the GCC deal must preserve the unity, security and stability of Yemen according to its first principle.

The prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, said Sunday at the beginning of an official tour to all the gulf nations except Qatar, the GCC deal would historic chance for resolving the Yemen crisis.

Relations between Qatar and Yemen are strained after Saleh accused Qatari officials of supporting the protests against him.