Dubai: Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi yesterday reshuffled the country’s cabinet, appointing a new foreign minister and interior minister among others.
He appointed Abdul Malek Abdul Jalil Al Mukhlafi as foreign minister, replacing Riyadh Yassin. Major General Hussain Mohammad Arab was appointed as interior minister and Abdul Aziz Ahmad Al Jabari was given the position of civil services minister. All three were also made deputy prime ministers. Dr Mohammad Abdul Majid Qubati was appointed minister of information, and Saleh Qaid Al Shangara was appointed minister of transport.
Riyadh Yassin and Dr Abdullah Mohammad Al Sa’edi, both former foreign ministers, were appointed as ambassadors working under the foreign ministry.
Al Arabiya reported that Major General Abdu Mohammad Al Hudhaifi was appointed head of the security services, replacing Mahmoud Khaled Al Soufi.
The new interior minister Hassan Arab served in the same position under the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh from 1995 to 2003. Foreign Minister Al Mukhlafi was a member of the Shura Council and a leader in the Nasserist party. He was recently appointed as head of the government’s delegation to the Geneva peace talks. He and Al Jabari are taking up ministerial positions for the first time.
