AFP - The UN Security Council on Friday passed a resolution calling on Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a deal under which he would quit and to end deadly attacks on protesters.
The resolution, unanimously agreed by the 15 members, "strongly condemns" government violence against demonstrators and backs a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) peace plan under which Saleh would end his 33 years in power.
Several hundred people have been killed since protests against Saleh erupted in January.
The Security Council's strongest pronouncement yet on the Yemen crisis called on Saleh to keep a promise to immediately sign the GCC plan and for a peaceful power transition "without further delay".
Saleh has said he agrees to the plan by the six Gulf states but has refused to sign it or implement any of its provisions.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, a prominent Yemeni activist, was outside the Security Council for the vote and she called for international pressure on Saleh.
"Dictatorships are going down and are done," she said before the meeting.
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