Riyadh Intervenes to Save the Negotiations in Yemen after Saleh Refuses to Sign

The Kingdom's efforts have resulted in the acceptance of the opposition leaders to return to Sana'a on Thursday, after their refusal to suspend their external tour earlier, in order to sit down with the negotiating team to overcome this obstacle in the remaining three days of the UN envoy; while tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters in Sana'a demanded the Arab League to suspend Yemen's membership like it did for Syria.

Western diplomatic sources in Yemen said to the UAE Al-Bayan Newspaper that Washington had asked Saudi Arabia to intervene, to save the negotiations, after the opposition leaders refused to suspend their external tour and return to Sana'a. The Newspaper added that Riyadh, through its embassy in Sana'a, intervened strongly to the parties, since it enjoys strong relations with the Opposition and President Saleh, as well as General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the commander of the dissident military and the leader of the Hashed Tribe, Sheikh Sadeeq al-Ahmar. The Kingdom wants to see the power-transfer succeeds as the current crisis is threatening the security of its own territories.

According to these sources, the efforts made by Saudi Arabia resulted in the acceptance of the opposition leaders to return to Sana'a on Thursday to sit with the ruling party's which includes Vice President, Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi, and Abdul Karim Eryani, the political Advisor to President Saleh.

The sources reported that the Yemeni president justifies the absence of any progress in solving this problem by the absence of opposition leaders, saying that if they were to return they could complete the negotiations and end the disputes over the implementation mechanisms of the GCC initiative.