Gulf countries have worked out a plan for president Saleh of Yemen to step down

Reuters reports that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has coined a plan for Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh to step down and hand over power to an interim council of tribal and political leaders who would help appoint a national unity government ahead of elections. The proposal would also see Saleh hand over power to a vice-president. Current incumbent Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has said he does not want such a role, which suggests Saleh would appoint a new vice-president.The proposal would also give Saleh and his family, immunity from prosecution for corruption. The Gulf proposal for talks in Riyadh was presented to Saleh and a coalition of opposition parties this week, according to Reuters. It came after the United States and the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia finally seem to have given up their backing of  Saleh.
 
The Dutch government on Tuesday announced that it has suspended “a major portion of its aid to governmental institutions in Yemen,” according to their embassy in Sana’a, the Yemen Times reported
The measure concerns all aid to organizations that are connected to the government. The embassy explained that the measure will suspend EUR 14.7 million of the total EUR 23.7 million budgeted by the Netherlands for Yemen in 2011. However, emergency aid and assistance channeled through civil society organizations will continue as usual. The suspension comes as a reaction against the “Yemeni government’s continuing violence against demonstrators.”

Meanwhile mass  protests against Saleh's 32 year old rule continue. The Yemen Post said that on Wednesday more than 600.000 people took part a peaceful demonstration Yemen's southern province of Taiz. The protesters condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators in all Yemen's province and they accused the governor of Taiz, Hamod Al-Sofi, and the head of security Abdullah Qairan for the massacres against protesters in Taiz over the last three days.  This week dozens of people have been reported killed in clashes in Taiz, Hodeida, the capital Sana’a.and across the nation, with hundreds injured and exposed to tear gas. Tens of thousands of women and children participated in the march in Taiz in an effort by protesters to convince security forces that they want peaceful change.
Al-Jazeera English had the following video: