Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to step down after 33 years in power.

During a ceremony in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday, Saleh signed a deal to transfer power within 30 days to his Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The resignation deal was devised by the six-member Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf earlier in April. Under the power transfer deal, Saleh is to relinquish his authority to his vice president in return for being exempt from prosecution.

More than 15-hundred people are estimated to have died due to the suppression by government forces since anti-government protests were staged in Yemen in January.