Al Mukalla: Yemen president’s latest decree to elevate two powerful political and military figures to key positions in the country is a backup plan if the upcoming peace talks fail to bring about an end of Al Houthis grip of power, analysts said.
Hadi on Sunday dismissed his deputy Khalid Bahah and replaced him with Lt. Gen Ali Mohsin Al Ahmar. Hadi also appointed Ahmad Obaid Bin Daghar, a former senior member of the General People’s Congress party of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as prime minister.
“The appointments aimed at dismantling the [remaining] tribes and [figures] in the General People’s Congress, loyal to Al Houthis and Saleh,” Abdul Sallam Mohammad, the director of the Abad Centre for Strategic Studies, told Gulf News.
Having lived in exile for several months after fleeing his house in Sana’a in the wake of Al Houthis’ capture of the capital in late 2014, Al Ahmar was quickly promoted to higher positions and has been widely credited for the recent territorial gains made by government forces. In an attempt to rally the tribal leaders behind the internationally supported government, Hadi on February 23 appointed Al Ahmar as the deputy chief commander of the armed forces.
Mohammad said that if the peace talks were to fall through, Al Ahmar would be tasked with dealing with the powerful tribal and military figures who have backed the Al Houthis and Saleh.
During the talks, the two leaders would serve as the government’s sources of influence to push the rebels into making concessions. “The appointments also meant to give the Al Houthis two choices: either accepting the legitimacy [Hadi’s government] and UN resolutions or face military settlement,” Mohammad said.
For more than three decades, Al Ahmar, who defected from the ousted president’s regime in March 2011 following the killing of nearly 55 peaceful protesters, had been regarded as a key pillar of Saleh’s regime. Saleh once credited him for saving him in his early days in office by suppressing a coup by Nasserists.
Thabet Hussain Saleh, a military analyst, said on his Facebook page that the ageing army general wields enormous leverage and could use it to win over allegiances of some tribal leaders in northern Yemen. “This general still holds tribal, religious and military cards of power in the north. His appointment would please forces in the north and would likely agitate Saleh-Al Houthi alliance,” he said.
Political analysts also predicted that Bin Daghar, who was once the second in command in Saleh’s party, would be assigned to convince political figures from the same party to throw their weight behind the government of President Hadi.
Saleh said that Bin Daghar did not completely sever his ties with members of General People’s Congress, including the ousted president, despite siding with Hadi’s government. “His appointment would please the party’s wing who support Hadi and Saudi Arabia.”
Unlike Al Ahmar, who is considered more of a military figure, Bin Daghar has had a long political career that began decades ago during reign of the Marxists in the former South Yemen state when he served as a member of the ruling Socialist Party.
Bin Daghar was sentenced to death by the victorious northerners after the brief civil war in 1994 between the two parts of Yemen. The ousted president pardoned him and many senior figures in the Socialist Party and asked them to return home from exile.
Bin Daghar returned to Sana’a and joined Saleh’s party. During the mass protests against Saleh’s regime in 2011, Bin Daghar staunchly supported Saleh and refused to follow Al Ahmar’s example. Saleh elevated him to the position of deputy when Hadi left the capital and went into exile in Riyadh early last year.
In October last year, Bin Daghar fled the country and announced his backing for Hadi from Riyadh.
The pro-Saleh section of the General Congress reacted to the new government appointments by announcing the sacking of senior figures including Hadi and Bin Daghar from the party for backing military operations by Saudi Arabia.
Hadi’s decree said that the former vice-president and prime minister were dismissed for failing to handle many critical issues including merging resistance fighters into the armed forces, treating injured fighters and absorbing aid from the coalition. Despite the president’s accusations, Bahah wrote a reconciliatory post on Facebook on Sunday saying that he “pulled out all the stops” to help the country at critical times.
