The Gulf Co-operation Council chief left the Yemeni capital saying the country’s political rivals are not yet ready to reach an agreement, state news agency Saba said, as the death toll from four days of violence spiralled to 79.
“GCC Secretary General Abullatif al-Zayani and his accompanying convoy left Sanaa today,” Saba said.
Zayani left after meeting yesterday with Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who called on “all Yemenis to respect the GCC’s efforts and what Zayani specifically is doing,” it added.
He “affirmed that when conditions are more favourable then all sides will be ready to exert the efforts needed to overcome tension and achieve security and stability in Yemen,” the report said.
Hadi, who was authorised by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to negotiate a power transfer earlier this month under a GCC plan, also met UN Yemen envoy Jamal Benomar yesterday, Saba said.
Benomar and Zayani both arrived in Yemen on Monday hoping to finalise the so-called Gulf Initiative, proposed last spring, which calls on Saleh to step down and hand over all constitutional authorities to Hadi. In return, Saleh and his family would be granted immunity from prosecution.
The failure of diplomatic efforts was accompanied by soaring tensions on the ground.
At least three civilians were killed in crossfire during clashes between rival military units that rocked Yemen’s capital for a fourth straight day yesterday, medics said, leaving a day-old truce declared by Hadi in tatters.
“Three civilians were killed and 25 were wounded,” a medical official at a field hospital in Sanaa’s Change Square, epicentre of the protests, said.
The violence came as tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Sanaa for the funerals of 30 of the 79 people killed in the bloodiest days since mass anti-regime protests erupted in January.
Witnesses said the rival forces traded artillery rounds and bursts of automatic gunfire yesterday morning in Eshrin Street, opposite Hadi’s residence, and the nearby Hael Street.
The gunfire gained intensity after it began sporadically, while shells smashed into buildings where snipers had taken up positions, according to the witnesses.
“Nobody can help the victims due to the intensity of the fighting,” a resident there said, adding that only soldiers and armed men were to be seen on the streets.
Residents remained holed up in their homes while businesses and banks in the neighbourhood were shut, witnesses said.
The clashes later spread towards Kentaky crossroad near the office of Saleh’s son Ahmed, where much of the fighting in the past three days has been focused.
Witnesses said several explosions rocked the area, without giving further details.
A military official from the First Armoured Brigade, commanded by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said the shelling had targeted the brigade’s headquarters near Change Square.
The northern part of the square was also shelled, the official said, adding that details of casualties were not immediately available.
At least 79 people, mostly unarmed protesters, have been killed and hundreds wounded in Yemen since Sunday in clashes between the dissident troops and those loyal to Saleh, during which security forces also used live fire to disperse crowds.
Most of the casualties have occurred when Saleh’s forces fired on tens of thousands of protesters as they moved from Change Square, where they have been camped since February, further into the heart of the capital, according to witnesses and medics.
It was not immediately clear what sparked yesterday’s resumption of hostilities following a lull after Hadi declared the truce on Tuesday night.
