Sana’a: Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh made his first appearance in Sana’a at the funeral of a colonel killed in clashes with his rebel allies, media run by Saleh’s party reported Thursday.
Coverage of the funeral of Colonel Khaled Al Radhi, a high-ranking official in Saleh’s General People’s Congress who was killed along with two rebels in a shootout last week, aired on the GPC-controlled Al Yemen Al Yom television channel.
The footage, recorded Wednesday, showed the former president praying over what the channel identified as Radhi’s casket before addressing a crowd of mourners.
The appearance comes amid rumours that Saleh had either fled Sana’a, which he jointly controls with Al Houthi rebels in their war against the Saudi-backed government, or was under house arrest by Al Houthis following unprecedented violence between the allies at the weekend.
Cracks have emerged in the rebel alliance between Saleh and Abdul Malik Al Houthi, head of Al Houthi rebels who is allied with Iran, escalating into an armed battle at a rebel checkpoint in Sana’a in which Al Radhi - head of foreign relations with the GPC - and the two Houthis were killed.
An uneasy calm has since returned to Sana’a, with rebel and GPC sources saying armed forces loyal to both Al Houthi and Saleh have slowly begun to withdraw from the streets, after a heavy deployment following Saturday’s shootout.
A mediation committee has also been set up to try to restore ties between the two rebel forces, according to a security source involved in the committee. Saleh’s forces are reportedly demanding Al Houthis hand over those responsible for the killing of Al Radhi.
A war of words broke out earlier this month between Saleh and theonce-foe Al Houthi, with the former president terming his allies “a militia” and the rebels firing back that he was a “back-stabber” and “traitor”.
Al Houthi reportedly suspects Saleh has been negotiating with Gulf states in an Arab military coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.
Saleh resigned under popular and political pressure in 2012, ceding the presidency to his vice president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Two years later, Saleh and Al Houthis joined ranks in a shock alliance that drove Hadi’s government out of Sana’a and ushered the rebels in.
The two have since fought troops loyal to Hadi as well as the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in the war in 2015 in support of the internationally-recognised Hadi government.
