Deal to end Yemeni crisis said nearly set

SANAA, Yemen, April 21 (UPI) -- The head of an Arab group met with Yemen's embattled president Thursday, a state news agency reported amid reports the group brokered a deal for him to resign.

Abdel Latif al-Zayani, secretary-general of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, met with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital, Sanaa, the state-run Saba News Agency said without offering details of the meeting.

Zayani also met with members of Yemen's opposition, Voice of America reported.

The Gulf Cooperation Council -- a political and economic union of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait -- proposed April 10 Saleh seek to end the country's political crisis by handing over power to Vice President Abduraboo Mansur Hadi and leave within a month.

A week earlier, it called for Saleh's departure and proposed the formation of a broad coalition "unity government" consisting of all major parties.

Saleh, Yemen's leader of 32 years, has faced nearly three months of massive street protests against his rule.

Pro-democracy organizers planned demonstrations across Yemen Friday, a day they dubbed "last-chance Friday."

Thursday's meeting with Saleh came amid reports by Qatar's pan-Arab al-Jazeera network and elsewhere the Western-backed deal for Saleh to step down was nearly set.

Al-Jazeera said U.N. diplomats believe mediators were "very close to reaching a final agreement."

But Saleh publicly resisted calls for his resignation Wednesday accusing the opposition of instigating "conspiracies and coups," VOA said.

Under the resignation proposal, Saleh would hand over power to Hadi and leave office within a month. Saleh and his family would be guaranteed immunity from prosecution, al-Jazeera said.

Presidential elections would be held after 60 days, as stated in the country's Constitution.

Saleh, who came to power in 1978, has faced protests in the impoverished Arab country since January calling for his ouster that have led to more than 130 deaths.

The council has sought to broker an end to the political crisis for weeks, al-Jazeera said.

The brokered plan is seen as a compromise between what the ruling party and the opposition have been seeking.