Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2014 23:09:04 +0100
Yemen ruling party and rebels decry new cabinet, demand reshuffle
AP , Saturday 8 Nov 2014
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Yemen's ruling party, led by former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, and allied
Shiite rebels rejected Saturday a newly formed government threatening a
U.N.-brokered deal that established a truce after the rebels overran the
capital.
The declaration by Saleh's General People's Congress party and the rebel
group known as Houthis come a day after the U.N. Security Council imposed
sanctions on Saleh and two rebel leaders for threatening the peace, security
and stability of the country. The council ordered a freeze of all assets and
a global travel ban on Saleh, the rebel group's military commander, Abd
al-Khaliq al-Huthi, and the Houthi's second-in-command, Abdullah Yahya al
Hakim.
The Houthis said in a statement that the sanctions were an obstacle to the
political transition of Yemen. The sanctions were "a flagrant provocation of
the feelings of Yemenis and a blatant interference in their internal
affairs," the group said.
In the same statement the rebel group dismissed the new government as
unrepresentative and called for a new line up.
The Houthi rebels captured Sanaa in September, allegedly with the tacit
support of Saleh, and demanded that current President Abed Rabbo Mansour
Hadi appoint a new government, complaining the previous one was too close to
their rival conservative Sunni Islamist party.
After weeks of violence and political wrangling, during which a
U.N.-brokered deal was reached, Khaled Bahah was nominated for prime
minister and tasked with forming a new government. But a dispute over who
would form the Cabinet continued until last Saturday, when all Yemeni
parties and political groups agreed on an apolitical technocrat Cabinet. A
lineup of 37 members, including Bahah, was announced Friday. Only seven
ministers were left over from the previous government.
The new showdown started earlier Saturday and appeared to be in direct
response to the U.N. sanctions passed Friday soon after the new government
was announced. Saleh's supporters in the ruling party decided earlier
Saturday to sack Hadi from its leadership, replacing him and another senior
aide with new members.
The party is split between supporters of Hadi and those backing Saleh, who
was forced to step down in 2012 following protests against him. Saleh
remains a major power broker however. In the U.S-backed, Gulf-brokered deal
in which Saleh agreed to step down in favor of Hadi, he was granted immunity
from prosecution. Hadi was a senior aide of Saleh but has since assuming
office accused his predecessor of undermining him.
In a televised speech to the party, which he still heads, Saleh blamed Hadi
for allegedly lobbying for the sanctions against him since he stepped down.
He denied any wrongdoing, vowing to drop the immunity he was granted if
authorities had enough evidence to prosecute him.
Saleh then criticized the newly formed government, saying it was
"unrepresentative." The ruling party then announced it was pulling its
members from the new Cabinet, which include at least three ministers.
"We will not take part in a government weaker than its predecessor," Saleh
said.
Yemen
Supporters of Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh rally in his
support in Sanaa (Photo: Reuters)
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