YEMEN’S PRESIDENT HAS ANNOUNCED he will step down from his position at the end of the year, but refuses to cede power to the military.

Support for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has been diminishing after key senior military figures withdrew their support for the government yesterday and instead backed the demonstrators calling for major reforms.

Rival tanks under the control of Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected yesterday, appeared on the streets of Yemeni capital Sanaa today.

Their deployment prompted Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed to say that the military remains loyal to the president and will stand up to all plots to overthrow the government.

More than 40 people were killled by government forces during demonstrations on Friday.

The US has been providing financial and military support to Yemen in its fight against al-Qaeda. Former US State Department intelligence analyst Wayne White said that if Saleh’s government falls, it will be “a great loss” to America’s counter-terrorism efforts.

The group Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, which is believed to be based in Yemen, was behind the foiled bomb attacks on US-bound cargo planes last year and the attempt to blow up a Northwest flight over the US on Christmas Day in 2009.

- Additional reporting by the AP