Obama Aide Meets Saleh, Urges Him to Sign GCC Plan

A top aide to U.S. President Barack Obama called Sunday on Yemen's injured President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a deal transferring power, during a face-to-face meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978, received top U.S. counter-terrorism official John Brennan in a hospital in Riyadh where he is recovering after being badly burned in a bomb attack at his presidential palace last month.

Despite strong Western pressure, Saleh has repeatedly refused to sign a plan brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council bloc in which he would hand over power within 30 days in exchange for a promise of immunity from prosecution.

"During the meeting, Mr. Brennan called upon President Saleh to fulfill expeditiously his pledge to sign the GCC-brokered agreement for peaceful and Constitutional political transition in Yemen," the White House said.

"The United States believes that a transition in Yemen should begin immediately so that the Yemeni people can realize their aspirations."

Saleh has refused to cede power despite protests that have left at least 200 people dead across Yemen, saying repeatedly that under the constitution he should serve out his current term of office which expires in 2013.

Before the attack he pledged to sign the GCC deal but later reneged, leading to renewed protests and the withdrawal of the regional bloc from mediation efforts.

The United States, which had viewed Saleh as a key ally in its "war on terror," has warned of the threat posed by Islamist militancy in Yemen and repeatedly voiced concern over the country's potential to become a new staging ground for al-Qaida.

"Mr. Brennan emphasized the importance of resolving the political crisis in Sanaa so that the Yemeni government and people can successfully confront the serious challenges they face, including the terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which have claimed the lives of hundreds of Yemeni citizens," the White House statement said.

"Mr. Brennan said that the United States is working closely with Yemen's friends and supporters in the Gulf Cooperation Council, Europe, and elsewhere to ensure that much needed assistance will flow to Yemen as soon as the GCC proposal is signed and implemented."

Brennan also wished "the president a speedy recovery from injuries he sustained in a June 3rd attack in Sanaa," the White House statement said.

"Mr. Brennan reiterated the U.S. government's condemnation of the attack against the president and other Yemeni officials."