Yemen's President Saleh Again Refuses to Sign a Peace Accord

President Saleh of Yemen has again refused to sign the accord negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the European Union and the United States.

This is the second time that Saleh has refused to sign, indicating Sunday that the signature of the opposition was made in secret and unless the opposition signatory appears to sign with him, he will not resign.

The GCC has given Saleh until late Sunday to sign the accord, which was scheduled to be flown to Riyadh for approval by the chief diplomatic ministers of the Gulf states.

The opposition now says that President Saleh will be driven from office if he does not go peacefully. For its part, the government has deployed security forces around Tahrir Square, the routes to the airport, the presidential palace and the parliament to prevent marchers from taking over these areas.
What is very peculiar in his refusal to sign the accord is that it gives President Saleh and his close circle immunity for past acts.

One would think that by now, immunity for any Arab leader under popular siege would be the offer that makes transition work. There is ample evidence that without immunity, ousted leaders are charged with serious criminal offenses, for example, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Colonel Qadhaffi in Libya who now faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Wake up, fellows. The game is over. Retire peacefully and let the transition to more democratic governments happen, or be hounded out of office and treated as criminals.

The choice seems obvious to me.