By MUNA KHAN
Al Arabiya with Agencies
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days, and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, Yemen’s state TV said on Saturday evening.
His imminent departure from office made Mr. Saleh the third key Arab leader to step down in the face of social and political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The other leaders are Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia. Mr. Mubarak is under detention at a military hospital in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh; Mr. Ben Ali is reported to be gravely ill in Saudi Arabia.
The protest movement demanding Mr. Saleh’s immediate departure said Saturday it also has agreed to the mediators’ proposal but with reservations. It objects to an article that gives parliament the right to reject the president’s resignation.
Members of the 68-year-old Mr. Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, dominate the parliament. Mr. Saleh, who has been in power for the last 32 years, steadfastly refused to resign from the presidency in the face of more than two months of massive street protests against his authoritarian rule.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/04/23/146477.html