Yemen's Saleh says to transfer power peacefully

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised on Thursday to transfer power peacefully, but gave no indication of the timing or conditions, according to a statement aired by the state TV.

Facing mounting protests over his three decades in power and his top general siding with protesters demanding democracy, Saleh had offered a new presidential election by January 2012 instead of September 2013, when his term ends.

"There is no way by any means or circumstance for the political system to offer itself to the gallows," Saleh said. "By all means come for political dialogue and power can be transferred peacefully through constitutional institutions."

Saleh offered an amnesty to military personnel who have defected to the opposition and called for his resignation.

"I announce a general amnesty for those who committed foolishness before and after Monday. We consider it foolishness and a reaction to what happened on Friday," Saleh said.

An escalating anti-regime campaign sought a transition despite more concessions from Yemen's president, as fears rose of bloodshed and military units clashed on Thursday for the second time this week.

Yemen's disparate opposition brushed aside new concessions as having come too late, and focused on working behind the scenes on a transition which could spare the country a brutal civil war, political sources said.

"Friday of Departure"

Ahead of another possible escalation on the Muslim weekly day of prayers and rest, as protesters plan a rally dubbed "Friday of Departure", Saleh urged his supporters to hold a mass show of support on Friday in a Sanaa square close to his presidential palace.

Even if deserted by long-time military, political, tribal and clerical backers, the veteran leader dubbed the event "Friday of Tolerance," countering the pro-change slogans of anti-regime demonstrators around the Arab world.

On Wednesday, parliament voted to pass a state of emergency declared by Saleh on March 18, just hours after regime loyalists last Friday gunned down 52 protesters outside their Sanaa University camp set up two months ago.

The opposition has said it will hold off until the following Friday, April 1, to march on the presidential palace for what many fear could prove a bloody final showdown.

Saleh, in power for three decades, has offered his foes a deal on forming a unity government, drawing up a new electoral law, holding a legislative poll, and his successor to be named by the end of 2011 by newly elected MPs.

"But we don't want any more concessions. We just want the president to leave, and quickly," Rashad al-Sharaabi, a member of a youths' committee which has been a key player behind the uprising, told AFP.

He said behind-the-scenes consultations were taking place for a peaceful transition of power. "We want a civil society, not a military regime," cautioned the activist.

Fresh clashes

On Thursday, fresh clashes in Mukalla, southeast Yemen, between the regular army and elite Republican Guard loyal to Saleh left three wounded, witnesses and medics said.

The fighting pitted soldiers under the orders of a regional commander who has rallied to the side of anti-Saleh protesters and the Republican Guards, witnesses said.

On Monday, two soldiers were killed as the rivals also clashed near a presidential palace in Mukalla.

With fears of violence on the rise, Britain and Germany both announced the evacuation of most staff from their embassies in Sanaa and pressed any more of their nationals still in the Yemeni capital to leave.

Russia's foreign ministry also advised all its citizens to immediately leave Yemen, which it said faced an "escalating trend."

Sources close to secret talks on a post-Saleh Yemen said General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a key figure who has sided with the protesters, was leading efforts to form a transitional council grouping representatives from all sides.

A peaceful transition could reassure Yemen's mighty neighbor Saudi Arabia and Saleh's allies in the United States, which have warned that the turmoil could boost al-Qaeda's franchise which is already based in Yemen.

Sanaa also faces an on-off Shiite revolt in the north that has dragged in Saudi Arabia and a secessionist movement in southern Yemen.