Diplomatic efforts to ease Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power and end months of protests have made some headway, an opposition official said on Sunday, with differences narrowed down to who controls the army during a transitional period.
Progress towards a deal came a day after hundreds of troops from the Republican Guards, an elite force led by Saleh's son Ahmed, defected to join protesters camping out in central Sanaa since February to demand an end to the leader's 33-year rule.
An opposition leader said talks with government representatives, mediated by UN envoy Jamal Benomar, moved closer to an agreement on a Gulf Arab plan to remove Saleh from power. It would transfer power to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, before an early presidential election.
"There is progress in the negotiations," the leader in an opposition coalition told Reuters. He declined to be identified.
"The differences now focus on the president's military authorities. The opposition wants these powers to be transferred to a committee that will be responsible for the armed forces until a new president is elected."
Saleh would retain his title during the interim period but Hadi would take over his powers, the opposition figure said. Yemen's opposition say Saleh wants overall control of the army, while they want the power to sack commanders who disobey orders.
The army is a key source of power in a society with few other national institutions. Saleh, who has three times backed away from signing the accord, told elite Republican Guard soldiers he visited on Saturday that he was considering stepping down.
"We in the presidency of the state are willing to sacrifice for the nation, but you will stay, you are present you are the authority of power," according to state news agency Saba.
Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi also said on Sunday that an agreement was near, and that it could be signed in the Saudi capital Riyadh as early as on Tuesday, Saba said.
Saleh's ruling General People's Congress party said on Saturday an agreement could be finalised within two days and signed in Riyadh. An opposition official subsequently dismissed prospects of an imminent deal.
Benomar, who arrived in Yemen last week to follow up on a UN Security Council resolution calling on Saleh to sign the Gulf initiative, has delayed plans to leave before a November 21 deadline to report to the UN secretary general.