Rivals reject proposal SANA'A: Yemen's president has made a new offer to protesters demanding his ouster, proposing he stays in office until elections are held but transferring his powers to a caretaker government, an opposition source said Wednesday. The opposition promptly rejected the offer, with a spokesman calling it “an attempt to prolong the survival of regime”. Ali Abdullah Saleh made his offer at a meeting Tuesday night with Mohammed Al-Yadoumi, head of the Islah party. It was the first time Saleh had dealt with Islah, once a partner in his government, an opposition spokesman said. Weeks of protests in Sana'a and other cities have brought Saleh's 32-year rule to the brink of collapse. Any agreement between Saleh and the parties could run into trouble from another force – the protesters. Groups calling themselves the Youth Revolution said Wednesday they would not end a sit-in near Sana'a University until Saleh and his allies are removed from power. “A temporary presidential council of five individuals known for experience and integrity should run the country for an interim period (of six months),” they said, adding the council should appoint a technocrat to form a caretaker government. It also called for corruption trials, return of “stolen public and private property”, release of political detainees, dissolving state security forces and closing the Information Ministry – steps taken in Tunisia and Egypt after similar pro-democracy uprisings had removed entrenched leaders. Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar, a key tribal figure who belongs to the Islah party, told Reuters Tuesday Islah and the opposition could handle the militant issue better than Saleh, whose government, he said, was not serious in confronting them. Opponents suspect incidents of lax security over the past week are government ploys to show to foreign powers that Saleh is the strongman who can hold the impoverished country together. Militants took control of a town in the central province of Abyan after government security deserted it, and the governors of Saada and Jawf provinces in the north also quit, prompting “popular committees” who back the protest movement to step in.
