Saudi Arabia has promised to pay for all urgent needs of the recently established government of Yemen, reports Nasser Arrabyee The Saudi foreign minister called Yemen's Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Mohamed Basundwa and told them the good financial news. The international community appears is anxious to help the 35-member government, which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party. The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity. The prime minister, who is also the chairman of the National Council of Revolution told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the suffering of the people. The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government. The security situation has improved after the new ministers started to operate their ministries. The opposition runs 17 ministries including the Interior, Information and Finance Ministries. UN envoy to Yemen Jamal bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014. This week, Bin Omar visited the three most troubled provinces -- Taiz and Saada in the north, and Aden, capital of the south. He met all the conflicting parties in the three cities. In Taiz, troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting. In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al-Houthi Shia rebels still want to have their own government and also reject the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al-Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented. "The essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that the Yemeni economy has collapsed, which is not true," said Mohamed Al-Sabri, an expert on the Yemeni economy. According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on 21 February 2012, early elections will be held and a new president will be elected instead of President Saleh who signed the GCC deal on 23 November in the Saudi capital Riyadh. After leaving power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party. To appease protesters still in the streets, the new Minister of Interior Abdel-Qader Qahtan ordered the release of political detainees. The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home. The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets. Yemen's two top leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah and moved to new hideouts in the northeast province Al-Jawf. Nasser Al-Wahayshi, leader of AQAP, and his Saudi deputy Said Al-Shehri left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al-Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other place. The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al-Jawf and Mareb to Al-Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar in Abyan and Al-Huta in Shabwah over the last six months. "We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al-Jawaf and Mareb. Maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the source. On 30 September, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al-Jawf where important meetings were held. Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al-Qaeda operatives, including the Al-Qaeda leader in Al-Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the Ministry of Interior. The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and Western embassies and interests. Musaad Mohamed Ahmed Naji Al-Barbari, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Al-Jawf province, 200km northeast of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists. Al-Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January 2009. The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al-Qaeda by the Ministry of Interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan, who is from the opposition. The Ministry of Interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al-Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
