A high-level Saudi official told reporters that Vice President would sign a Gulf Arab initiative to arrange for a transfer of power "within a week".

Although clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces were still going on in Yemen, a high-level Saudi official told reporters that Vice President would sign a Gulf Arab initiative to arrange for a transfer of power "within a week".

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in Saudi Arabia for treatment after he suffered injuries in an attack three month ago, had authorized VP Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi last Monday to negotiate a power transfer with the opposition.

"Within a week, the Vice President will sign the Gulf Initiative in the name of the president," said the Saudi official, who requested anonymity.
The Saudi official said further about the deal: "among the guarantees demanded by Saleh are that his son be kept in the next government".

The so-called Gulf Initiative was proposed by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and sets the path for a peaceful transition of power from Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978.

PROTESTS RESUME
The comments were made public on Sunday, a day after thousands of protesters stormed the main university in the nation's capital, Sanaa, preventing the first day of school and calling for an end to the current regime of Saleh.

At least six student were injured during the incident on Saturday.
"No studying, no teaching until the president goes," the students chanted as they marched into the Sanaa university campus, which is has been the centre of Yemen's opposition movement.

The protesters shut the doors of administrative buildings and tore down pictures of Saleh in the dean's offices.