Al Mukalla: A senior member in the party of the former president of Yemen has castigated Al Houthis for their “artificial and excessive” celebratory activities to make the birth of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), accusing them of contradicting their preaching about fighting corruption in Yemen.
Adel Al Shuja, an academic at Sana’a University and a member of the General People’s Congress, said on a post on his Facebook on December 23 that the rebels wastefully filled streets with green clothes and posters despite rampant poverty.
“You [Al Houthis] told me that you revolted against corruption and you are becoming corrupt [now]. You told me that YR3500 ($16.3) is too much for a [20 litre] jerry can of fuel and are now selling it for YR12000 ($55.9). You told me that [government] agencies are corrupt. But instead of reforming them, you destroyed them.”
Al Shuja’s unprecedented statement fuels rumours about cracks within the alliance between the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Al Houthis.
Since leaving power in early 2012, former president Saleh has kept denying that he was the driving force behind the Al Houthis’ quick expansion in northern Yemen. Some media reports in Yemen said that the cracks surfaced following recent military gains by the forces of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in northern Marib, Jawf and Hajja.
