SANA'A // The United States will call on Yemen's president either to step down or to reach a transition-of-power agreement with the opposition within the next week, a US Embassy official in Sana'a said yesterday.
The United States appears to be withdrawing its support for the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, particularly after opposition leaders assured the US that they will not try to take control of the country's counterterrorism operations during any transition period, according to American and Yemeni officials.
The Obama administration is concerned that if turmoil continues in Yemen it will provide an opportunity for al Qa'eda and other extremist groups, Jay Carney, the US president Barack Obama's spokesman, said yesterday.
The US is urging Mr Saleh and those protesting against his government to negotiate so that al Qa'eda cannot take advantage of a power vacuum, Mr Carney said.
A coalition of opposition groups has called for international intervention to stop what it said was the violence being directed by Mr Saleh's regime against protesters demanding his removal.
US and opposition negotiators have been seeking an agreement that would remove Mr Saleh from power and put an end to escalating violence. At least 15 protesters were killed yesterday and hundreds were wounded.
A Yemeni foreign ministry official said the US was not happy with the struggling Saleh regime. "Because Saleh is not able to protect US interests in Yemen, he is forcing them to look at other options, even though it could be risky," the official said.
Negotiators are discussing a plan that would require Mr Saleh to be gone within two months and replaced by a transitional government that would serve until the end of the year.
The plan envisions an elected government at that point. The new government could name whomever it wanted to run the security operations.
The Obama administration has supported Mr Saleh in the face of growing protests because he was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemen-based al Qa'eda in the Arabian Peninsula.
But the US appears to have concluded that it now faces greater risks from extremists in Yemen with an unstable Saleh regime clinging to power and violence growing, a Yemeni government official said.
Washington has long had a wary relationship of mutual dependence with Mr Saleh. The US has provided weapons, and the Yemeni leader has allowed the American military and the CIA to strike at Qa'eda strongholds.
Opposition officials agreed at the weekend that if Mr Saleh steps down the Yemeni vice president Abdu Rabu Mansoor Hadi should replace him. He would in turn choose the people to run the Central Security, National Security and Republican Guards.
"The US wants the president's nephew to continue holding the counterterror file even after Saleh leaves office. They do not trust that it will be in good hands if Saleh leaves office," the opposition official said.
Fifteen protesters were killed and hundreds injured when police and army forces backed by snipers used live ammunition and gas to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators in the second straight day of clashes in the city of Taiz.
"It is a massacre," said Bushra al Maktari, a protest organiser. Mohammed Makharish, a physician at the field clinic, said 15 were killed and 67 were shot and that eight of them are in serious condition.
The state Saba news agency reported 10 deaths and dozens injured.
Ms al Maktari said the protesters were also calling for a general strike and acts of civil disobedience until the departure of Mr Saleh, his sons and nephews who are assuming key military and security positions.
Sadek al Shujaa, the chief of the field clinic, said the victims' wounds indicate that the snipers were well trained.
"This is a terrible massacre that we have not seen even in Gaza," Dr al Shujaa said.
Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation, said dozens of the wounded protesters were arrested by police.
In the city of Hodiedah, hundreds of protesters were wounded in two separate attacks by government supporters and security forces.
Nine were hit with live rounds, 18 by stones and about 400 others suffered from tear gas when they were attacked by the police and armed men in plainclothes early yesterday, according to protester Abdulhafidh Mujaab.
After that attack in Taiz yesterday, thousands in Hodiedah took to the streets to condemn the violence and again were faced by security forces and armed men in plainclothes. That clash left two injured suffering from bullet wounds, 18 with injuries from stones and 270 others from tear gas inhalation.
In Sana'a thousands of protesters marched and one poster read: "The blood of martyrs will not go in vain."
More than 120 demonstrators have been killed in Yemen since protests began on February 11, according to human-rights groups.
Gulf Arab states have invited Yemeni government and opposition representatives to talks in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait's foreign minister said yesterday. Sheikh Mohammad al Salem al Sabah said the offer was extended after a meeting of GCC foreign ministers in Riyadh on Sunday. Also yesterday, Michele Cervone d'Urso, European Union ambassador to Yemen, called for an immediate peaceful political transition.
"The EU is calling for a peaceful political transition process now and deplores any violence against protesters," Mr d'Urso said.
