Yemen's opposition parties on Saturday offered President Ali Abdullah Saleh a fresh initiative to peacefully move the power to his deputy, they said in a statement. In their new initiative, the opposition Joint Meeting Parties ( JMP) proposed five-point terms, under which the power will be transferred peacefully from President Saleh to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who is a member of Saleh's ruling General People's Congress party. "Any attempt made by us is to restore the political process to its normal path, to find a safe exit for transferring the power and meet the demands of the people, but the supporters of the regime used the country's resources to twist the fact and appealed to force and violence under the umbrella of popular support," the JMP said. "Feeling sense of responsibility of reducing the security and economic risks our homeland are facing, the JMP and their partners presenting this new version for transferring the power peacefully, which stipulated that Saleh resigns and moves the power to his vice president," said the statement. It said the vice president should then immediately embark on revamping the National Security Agency, the Central Security Forces and the Republican Guards Forces. "The interim president and the JMP will go ahead to form a transitional national council, which includes representatives from all political forces, to write a new constitution in the light of the results of the comprehensive national dialogue," said the statement. It said the vice president should then immediately embark on revamping the National Security Agency, the Central Security Forces and the Republican Guards Forces. "The interim president and the JMP will go ahead to form a transitional national council, which includes representatives from all political parties, to draft a new constitution in the light of the results of the comprehensive national dialogue," said the statement. The JMP also proposed to form a temporary national unity government led by opposition in order to work with the interim president to fix the financial and economic problems in the country. The initiative also included the establishing of a temporary military council, and a high committee for referendum and elections to safeguard civilians' rights on demonstration and freedom of expression. Meanwhile, the JMP demanded an independent investigation into the case of "abusing and killing the protesters during the past period". As there was no immediate government comments, the opposition is waiting for a response from President Saleh, who is facing weeks-long street protests across the impoverished Arab state demanding his immediate ouster. |