Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has authorised his deputy to negotiate a transfer of power with the opposition to put an end to a months-long political crisis, the state news agency SABA said Monday. The president “has given the vice president Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi the necessary constitutional authority to negotiate” the power transfer mechanism with the opposition, the agency said.
Meanwhile gunmen killed a senior Yemeni intelligence officer in the main southern city of Aden, the latest in a spate of assassinations to hit the south, a security official said on Monday. Lieutenant Colonel Ali Ahmed Abd Rabbo was driving along the main coast road on Sunday evening when protesters blocked his way, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “As soon as his car stopped, gunmen opened fire, riddling the vehicle with bullets and killing the colonel,” the official said, adding that it was unclear whether the gunmen were from among the demonstrators or militants who had infiltrated the protest. In a village west of Aden, army Colonel Naji Aitha escaped with minor injuries when militants detonated explosives outside his home on Sunday, the official added.