GCC ministers reject Yemen 'conspiracy' claim

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RIYADH: Gulf Cooperation Council ministers on Sunday rejected accusations by Yemen's embattled president that Qatar was involved in a "conspiracy" against his country amid threats to pull out of a GCC deal to end the violence in Yemen.

A communique issued at the end of a meeting of GCC foreign ministers said they "deeply regret the Yemeni statements which include insults against the state of Qatar".

They "totally reject and condemn these statements" and underline that their initiative, under which Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh would resign, was the work of the "joint will of GCC states".

Saleh said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel earlier that, "Contacts are under way for the signing of the agreement on Monday in Riyadh, but we have reservations about some mediators involved in a conspiracy".

He singled out Qatar among the six-nation GCC and accused it of causing unrest in Yemen where more than 145 people have been killed in the past three months as protesters demand the immediate ouster of Saleh.

"The state of Qatar is funding chaos in Yemen and in Egypt and Syria and throughout the Arab world, " he charged.

"We reserve the right not to sign if the representatives of Qatar are present" at the ceremony, Saleh warned.

The foreign ministers of the GCC -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- met in Riyadh on Sunday to finalise the Yemen transition deal before presenting it to the parties for ratification.

The plan proposes the formation in Sanaa of a government of national unity, Saleh transferring power to his vice president and an end to the deadly protests rocking the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation since late January.

The president would submit his resignation to parliament within 30 days, to be followed two months later by a presidential election. (AFP)