Yemen opposition agrees to resume talks with govt

Yemeni anti-government protesters slap a burning picture of President Ali Abdullah Saleh with a slipper during a protest calling for his ouster in Sanaa late on Feb 11, 2011. -- PHOTO: AFP

SANAA - THE Yemeni opposition agreed on Sunday to resume talks suspended since October with the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the target of post-Tunisian revolution protests calling for his ouster.

The Common Forum, an alliance of parliamentary opposition groups, is 'ready to sign a framework agreement this week ... on (resuming) the national dialogue,' it said, in a statement received by AFP.

It said the draft deal calls for the formation of a unity government and the inclusion in the dialogue of the secessionist Southern Movement, the Shi'ite rebels of northern Yemen and opposition members in exile.

Talks would resume from the point at which they were suspended on October 31, said the Common Forum, grouping Al-Islah (Reform), which is Yemen's main Islamist opposition, the Yemeni Socialist Party and other smaller factions.

'We urge the authorities to learn a lesson from what happened in Tunisia and Egypt,' where massive revolts by the people forced out their respective leaders, it said.

The opposition warned of a 'popular uprising' in Yemen, a country they said is weighed down by 'corruption, poverty, unemployment, repression, injustice and tyranny.' Egypt- and Tunisia-style protests have been held in Yemen since mid-January calling for Mr Saleh to step down. -- AFP