Americas

Home page

Americas

UN Security Council to vote on Yemen violence

19 October 2011 19:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The UN Security Council will vote, possibly as early as this week, on a measure condemning the worsening violence in Yemen, a senior Western diplomat said Wednesday, APA reports quoting AFP.

A draft resolution was circulated among the councilâ€™s 15 members Tuesday evening.

The measure was to be discussed Wednesday at the level of experts and submitted to a vote by the end of this week or early next week, the diplomat said.

The 15 council members have no major objections to the draft, and the five veto-wielding permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- are in favor of it, the diplomat said.

"I wouldnâ€™t expect that there will be a major problem," the official said.

Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, accused of rampant corruption and nepotism during his 33 year rule, has refused to relinquish power, despite months of protests and mounting international and regional pressure.

Saleh has rejected a plan drawn up by the Gulf monarchies for a peaceful transfer of power.

At least 861 people have been killed and 25,000 wounded since the start of the protests, according to a letter sent to the United Nations in early October by the Yemeni youth movement.