SANA'A: Mohammed Salem Basendwah, the head of the National Yemeni Council for the Revolution, announced on Monday that the delegation of the Yemeni opposition was returning promptly to the capital of Sana'a, after much pressure to do so from the American and European ambassadors. For the past several weeks, Basendwah, Yassin Noman and other members of the council met abroad with several foreign officials in order to discuss Yemen's current situation and explore various avenues aiming at solving the political deadlock. Basendwah declared that since President Ali Abdallah Saleh was using their absence as a pretext to further delay the signature of the power-transfer agreement, he had decided to cut his trip short and face the ailing autocrat. The return of the politicians comes amidst threats on the part of the UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar to leave if both parties did not make the necessary efforts to reach a compromise. Basendwah stated that he intended to meet up soon with Doctor Nabeel al-Arabi, the Secretary General of the Arab League as he intended to ask its members to move against Saleh as they did with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The head of the National Yemeni Council stressed that he was still committed to the GCC brokered proposal and that he will not tire from negotiating with the government as the people's will needed to be respected. He also noted that he feared the clause of immunity would ignite nationwide outrage in the face of so many deaths and atrocities. BM
