SANAA (Reuters) - Talks to end a standoff over Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule have stopped without a plan to resume, opposition figures said on Sunday, as clashes erupted between the army and militants in the south.
Saleh, who has been alternately conciliatory and defiant, vowed there would be no more concessions to the opposition, who are demanding he step down after 32 years of authoritarian power in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
But in a sign that the political back-and-forth on a transfer of power may not be completely dead, the ruling party's governing committee recommended forming a new government to draft a new constitution on the basis of a parliamentary system.
A spokesman for Yemen's main opposition coalition also said the talks had been halted, a development that if it continues would likely raise fears that violence between rival military units could replace the political process.
There was no immediate comment from the government.
Saleh has said he was prepared for a dignified departure but that opposition parties were hijacking the protests to demand he quit without organising a democratic handover.
"I could leave power ... even in a few hours, on condition of maintaining respect and prestige," Saleh told Al Arabiya television. "I have to take the country to safe shores ... I'm holding on to power in order to hand it over peaceably."
But he has seemed to suggest he would stay at least for the short term, sprinkling the interview with warnings that Yemen would slide into civil war and fragment along regional and tribal lines if he left power immediately.
Militants clashed with the Yemeni army in a southern town, feeding Western and Saudi fears the country could slide into chaos that would benefit a resurgent Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda if Saleh is forced out.
One soldier was killed on Sunday and jets flew over the town. But residents said militants appeared to have taken control and the army was withdrawing to Abyan's provincial capital, Zinjibar, where witnesses said security measures had been tightened after militants fired rockets at state buildings.
Analysis: "Whether or not President Saleh is using the potential for a widespread armed struggle to delay his stepping down, he is spot-on with his statements of concern. As we have outlined in our past posts, Yemen is a powder keg of militant and separatist groups and, for better or worse, Saleh has been the only person in Yemen's recent history able to stabilize the country. A peaceful and orderly transition would be best for Yemen and the international community."
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