Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered fresh defections on Tuesday when a diplomat and a former minister backed pro-democracy protestors demanding an end to his 32 year-rule.
Abdel-Malik Mansour, Yemen's representative to the Arab League, told Al Arabiya television he was siding with the protestors and water and environment minister Abdul-Rahman al-Iryani, sacked with the rest of the cabinet on Sunday, said he was joining "the revolutionaries".
The latest defections came after top generals, ambassadors and some tribes on Monday backed anti-government protesters in the Arabian Peninsula state in a major blow to Saleh's efforts to ride out demands for his immediate exit.
France became the first Western power on Monday to call publicly for Saleh to stand down, with Foreign Minister Alain Juppe describing his departure as "unavoidable".
Attention was set to shift to the United States and Saudi Arabia, two key allies who see Yemen as a bulwark against a dynamic al Qaeda network that has made skilful use of Yemen's poverty, tribal system and central government dysfunction.
On Monday Saleh asked Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to mediate and state media said he had dispatched his foreign minister to Riyadh with a message for Saudi leaders.
U.S. President Barack Obama, grappling with sweeping change across the region from Egypt to the war zone of Libya, has called for "peaceful transition" in Yemen, where the lack of a clear successor to Saleh has increased global nervousness.
Residents said explosions and shooting were briefly heard on Monday evening near a presidential place in Yemen's eastern port of Mukalla. The nature of the shooting was unclear but it highlighted a growing tension across the country.
General Ali Mohsen, commander of the northwest military zone and Saleh's kinsmen from the al-Ahmar clan, said on Al Jazeera on Monday he was backing the protestors and warned of civil war -- security men later raided the channels' office in Sanaa.
"We announce our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the youth," Mohsen said -- words that sparked wild cheers from many of the thousands of protesters who have been gathered near Sanaa University for weeks. "Repressing peaceful demonstrators ... is pushing the country toward civil war."
The chief of the Ahmar tribe Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar also seemed to give up on Saleh, voicing support for protesters.
The Ahmar tribe is part of the Hashed federation, a key pillar of Saleh's rule that has relied on balancing tribes -- instead of state-building and national unity, critics say.
Yet Defence Minister Mohammad Nasser Ali set the scene for a possible military confrontation over Saleh and his network of power, declaring that the army still backed Saleh.
"We will not allow under any circumstances an attempt at a coup against democracy and constitutional legitimacy," the minister said on state TV, dressed in military fatigues and referring to Saleh as the "brother president".
Tanks were deployed outside the presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden, focal point of a separatist movement hoping to escape Yemen's myriad problems by recreating the former South Yemen that feels cheated by unity under Saleh.
SURVIVOR'S LAST STAND?
Saleh is a perennial survivor who has stayed in power for 32 years throughout a civil war, numerous uprisings and militant campaigns. Al Arabiya quoted him as saying in typical fashion that most Yemenis were with him and he would remain steadfast.
Yemeni television showed Saleh swearing in new members of the appointed Shura Council, Yemen's upper house of parliament, in an apparent effort to demonstrate he was still in charge.
The death of 52 protesters in Sanaa on Friday at the hands of plainclothes snipers has been the spark behind the string of defections that threatens to finally undo Saleh's domination.
Saleh himself appeared to realise the gravity of the bloodshed, sacking his cabinet and declaring a 30-day state of emergency in the immediate days that followed.
He tried at an early stage after a Tunisian uprising brought down its president in January to offer concessions in an effort stave off trouble, vowing not to stand for reelection in 2013.
Last week he also offered a new constitution giving more powers to parliament, as well as announcing an array of handouts. But he rejected opposition plans for a phased transition of power this year, even as he haemorrhaged support.
Yemen under Saleh has failed to meet basic needs of its 23 million people. Unemployment is around 35 percent but 50 percent for young people. Oil wealth is dwindling, water is running out and more than two-fifths of Yemenis live in poverty.
Short link: