Yemen protests to continue as Saleh vows to quit

Saleh has ruled this impoverished Arabian Peninsula state for nearly 33 years and has agreed to a Gulf Arab initiative that would lead to him resigning within a month of an agreement being signed with the opposition.

The main opposition coalition conditionally endorsed the plan, but youths and activists that gave the anti-Saleh protests their momentum are skeptical.

They worry the ruling party and the opposition, which served in parliament before the protests, will sacrifice for political gain the wishes of tens of thousands in the streets demanding democratic reforms, and they do not trust Saleh's intentions.

“There's a lot of resentment among the youths because the opposition agreed to this initiative,” Abdulhafez Muajeb, the leader of a protest movement in the Red Sea port of Hudaida, told Reuters.

“From our end, we will escalate our protests until we force the president to step down immediately.”

In Sanaa, where protesters have camped out for weeks, many shouted: “No negotiation, no dialogue — resign or flee.”

The opposition, led by Islamist and leftist parties, had been considered weak compared with the well-funded ruling party, but it has been able to draw large numbers to protests.

Scores of demonstrators have been killed in months of unrest in Yemen inspired by uprisings across north Africa and the Middle East that toppled Tunisia and Egypt's veteran leaders.

Analysts say a 30-day time period from the signing of the agreement until Saleh's resignation — and it is not yet clear when that period starts — offers a window of opportunity for unrest that could derail the transition plan.

“Tribal leaders or the president's sons or other leaders could do anything, because by this agreement they will be the losers,” Yemeni analyst Ali Seif Hassan said. “If there is no civil war, they will lose. But if there is a war, they could be winners because they would lead the fighting.”

That would worry Washington and neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, who fear a descent into chaos would leave room for al-Qaida's ambitious Yemen-based wing to further entrench itself in a country that sits on a strategic sea lane where some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.

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