By Ahmed Al-Haj

Associated Press

SANAA: With the wounded president out of Yemen, the United States and Saudi Arabia scrambled Monday to arrange a power transfer ensuring an end to his decades-long rule. But a top official said President Ali Abdullah Saleh, recovering in Saudi Arabia, would return home within days, a step almost certain to re-ignite violence.
A return by Saleh would likely spark new, intensified fighting between his forces and opposition tribesmen determined to topple him. Both sides’ fighters are deployed in the streets of the capital, and a cease-fire brokered by Saudi Arabia only a day earlier was already starting to fray, with clashes killing at least six.

Saleh was rushed late Saturday to the Saudi capital for treatment after being wounded in a rocket attack on his palace amid two weeks of fighting in Sanaa. His departure raised cheers from protesters who have been turning out in the streets by the hundreds of thousands since February demanding his ouster.

But Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is acting leader in the president’s absence, told European ambassadors Monday: “Saleh’s health is improving greatly and he will return to the country in the coming days,” the state news agency reported. Saleh underwent surgery to remove shards of wood from his chest and treat heavy burns on his face and chest.

A renewal of fighting could push the impoverished nation into outright civil war. The United States fears that Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen could exploit the turmoil to strengthen its presence in the country.
“We are calling for a peaceful and orderly transition, a nonviolent transition that is consistent with Yemen’s own constitution,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. “We think an immediate transition is in the best interests of the Yemeni people.”
Furious diplomatic efforts were under way involving the Saudis, the United States, the Yemenis and Gulf Arab nations to work out a transfer of power, a U.S. official said. He likened the complex process to “four-dimensional chess.”

The focus is on reviving a U.S.-backed deal mediated earlier by the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of Gulf Arab nations including Saudi Arabia. Under the deal, Saleh would retire, handing power to his vice president, a unity government between his party and the opposition would be formed and presidential elections held within two weeks. In the past weeks, Saleh refused three times to sign the deal. As he was being evacuated for surgery over the weekend, he defied heavy Saudi pressure and refused to sign a presidential decree formally transferring his authorities to Hadi, a sign he was intent on coming back.After a Cabinet meeting Monday headed by King Abdullah, the Saudi government expressed its “hope that the initiative be signed … to get Yemen through the crisis, preserving its security, stability and unity.”
The kingdom wields enormous influence with Saleh, providing his regime – and many of Yemen’s tribes – with substantial financial aid. But it is unclear how far it would go to push him to accept the deal or prevent him from returning.

The original agreement called for Saleh to remain in office for 30 days after signing. But the Yemeni opposition says the aim now that Saleh is out of the country is to have an immediate resignation. Abdullah Awabal, a Yemeni opposition leader who met a day earlier with the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, said the Saudis, Americans and Europeans are all “in agreement to implement the initiative now.”
But Saleh’s ruling party appeared to be digging in its heels. In a meeting of the party leadership with Hadi Monday, hard-liners rejected any discussion of the initiative until Saleh returns, an official who attended said. “Nothing will happen without the approval of the president,” Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janabi said.

Saleh still has a powerful presence on the ground to back his hand: his sons and nephews, who command Yemen’s strongest military units and who remain in the country. Their forces remained deployed around Sanaa Monday, locked in a tense standoff with tribal fighters. Saleh’s most powerful son, Ahmad, head of the special forces and Republican Guard, attended a session of the national security council with Hadi for the first time Monday – a sign that he was actively weighing in on the political situation.
Saleh’s family may have the most to lose in any deal, since many in the opposition demand that their lock on top government and security positions be broken.

Tribal fighters loyal to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar rose up on May 23 after Saleh’s forces moved against Ahmar’s residence in Sanaa. The ensuing fighting saw heavy street battles, killing dozens, with government artillery hammering Sanaa’s Hassaba district, where Ahmar’s home is located. Tribal fighters overwhelmed more than a dozen government ministries in the area. Ahmar leads Yemen’s most powerful tribal confederation.
Friday’s stunning rocket attack, which the government first blamed on tribal fighters and later on Al-Qaeda, hit a mosque in Saleh’s palace, killing 11 bodyguards and seriously wounding five senior officials.

Amid the uncertainty, the cease-fire was shaky. Gunmen – apparently pro-Saleh forces – attacked tribal fighters in Hassaba Monday, killing three tribesmen, Ahmar’s office said. Late Sunday, pro-government gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint manned by a military unit that defected and joined the opposition, an officer from the unit said. In the clash, two of the attackers and one of the unit’s soldiers were killed, the officer said.

Hassaba remained tense, with government forces dug in despite promises under the cease-fire that they would pull back from their positions. Residents trying to return to their homes in the neighborhood were forced back by snipers firing from rooftops, another pro-opposition military officer said.