Reply #59: Qatar PM says Gulf states seeking Yemen deal

[tabatha]

(Reuters) - Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said on Wednesday that Gulf states hope to strike a deal with Yemen's president to step down.

"We hope that we will strike a deal," he told reporters on the sidelines of a Business and Investment in Qatar Forum in New York when asked if the Gulf Cooperation Council had reached such a pact for Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

"We (the council) have been meeting for the last few days in Riyadh and we're sending a proposal for him and the opposition and we hope a meeting will be held between his team and the opposition to try to find a way out of this problem," he said.

Ali Abdullah Saleh's at times bloody response to protests, inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia, against his 32-year rule has tried the patience of his U.S. and Saudi backers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/06/yemen-president-qatar-idUSN0624812220110406