Yemen: Houthis push for key ministerial portfolios
Shi'ite group has begun assassinating rivals, claims Yemeni tribal coalition
spokesman
Written by : <
http://www.aawsat.net/author/arafat-madabish> Arafat Madabish
on : Monday, 20 Oct, 2014
Sana'a and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat-The Houthi movement is pushing to secure
the defense, interior and finance portfolios in Yemen's new cabinet, despite
stern opposition from President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, sources in the
Yemeni government told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.
The sources added that Hadi met on Sunday with newly appointed Prime
Minister Khaled Bahah, Yemen's former UN representative, who returned from
New York on Sunday to assume his post.
The two held "lengthy discussions" regarding the possible makeup of the new
cabinet before they meet with other political factions in the country to
receive their nominees for the various posts. However, several political
parties and forces in the country are refusing to take part in the process
in protest over the inclusion of the Houthis and their "forcing a personal
political agenda" onto the country, the sources said.
Despite this, Hadi remains convinced of the "importance of meeting with the
representatives of all political forces" to form a new government, and was
insistent that all the country's political forces come together at this time
to "confront the various [political], economic and security challenges" the
country is facing.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports say Houthi rebels stormed the Sana'a
governorate headquarters on Sunday, forcing the current governor, Abdul
Ghani Hafzallah Jamil, out of the building, and installing a new governor,
Essam Duaib, who was previously a bodyguard to former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
In the Ibb governorate in southern Yemen, whose capital city-also known as
Ibb-the Houthis seized last Wednesday, a truce was declared on Sunday
between the Houthis and local authorities following clashes between the
Shi'ite group and local Sunni tribal fighters which have left dozens dead
and injured.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat the truce agreement stipulates the Houthis
vacate the city within 24 hours. However, eyewitnesses said the group had
continued raiding homes of their rivals throughout the governorate, even
destroying some of them using explosives. The eyewitnesses said they
believed some of these homes belonged to members of the Yemeni branch of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
Speaking via telephone, the official spokesperson of the Coalition of Yemeni
Tribes, Antar Al-Thayfani, told Asharq Al-Awsat the Houthis had begun
assassinating leaders from rival political factions throughout the country,
not just in Ibb.
He claimed that he was "at the top of the list" the group had drawn up of
figures it wished to eliminate, having already destroyed his homes in Amran
province using explosives.
The group now had more than 170 tanks in its possession, he said, all seized
from military facilities, and alleged that the Houthis had been receiving
aid from former members of ex-president Saleh's presidential guard.
Thayfani accused former members of the presidential guard of taking part in
Houthi-led protests in disguise, as well as helping the group take over a
number of provinces and government and military buildings and facilities
over the past weeks.
Thayfani said the Coalition-a loose collection of Sunni tribes formed under
the leadership of the sheikh of the prominent Al-Ahmar tribe, Sadeq
Al-Ahmar, to fight the regime of former president Saleh-had "known from the
beginning" of protests the Houthis staged last month that the group planned
to take over the country, and that their "revolution was illegitimate."
Tawfiq Al-Harazi and Fahd Al-Zayabi contributed additional reporting from
Sana'a and Riyadh.
Received on Mon Oct 20 2014 - 12:05:25 EDT