The United States officially asked the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the Yemeni ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the top leader of the country's Shiite Houthi rebels Abdel-Malik and one of his aides this week. The request was supposed to be discussed on 4 November. However, observers say that if the sanctions are approved, this will not help Yemen but is likely to make its problems worse. Yemenis will understand that the United States wants to keep Yemen down and not assist it to escape its problems. Meanwhile, rebel leader Abdel-Malik Al-Houthi has become almost the leader of the country as tens of thousands of his fighters and supporters now control all the provinces in the north of the country and not only the capital Sanaa. The split Yemeni army is accused of supporting the Houthis, as is Saleh, with even the US being accused of helping the rebels through its policy of drone strikes. The Al-Qaeda stronghold of Radaa fell into the hands of the Houthis last month after air strikes, including by US drones, helped the Houthi fighters. On Tuesday, US drones hit Al-Qaeda operatives in the Yakla area on the border of the Mareb province where the Houthis have been fighting against them. The Houthis deny receiving support from Saleh or the US, saying only that they are committed to fighting Al-Qaeda and terrorism in Yemen. Ex-president Saleh may be out of power, but he is still an actor in Yemeni politics as the head of his party and a historic personality who ruled the country for 33 years. But if the situation now benefits Saleh, this will only be because of the failure of the country's new rulers. Without the failure of the transitional President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and the country's political parties, the Houthis would not have been able to take control of the capital on September 21. Without the absence of local government, they also would not have been able to take control of the provinces and districts without resistance apart from individual incidents. Therefore, it seems likely that UN sanctions will only spoil efforts to form a new government of technocrats. All the parties and groups in the country, including the Houthis, authorised President Hadi and his designate Prime Minister Khaled Bahah to form a new government this week. However, the Houthis have also threatened to form a “salvation council” if Hadi fails to form a government within 10 days of signing the authorisation on 2 November. “Any sanctions, if approved now, would foil all efforts towards a political settlement, and we will return to zero,” said Mohamed Al-Aidarous, a leading member of Saleh's party. Another thing might lead to a failure to form a new government. On Sunday, two gunmen riding a motorcycle shot dead Mohamed Abdel-Malik Al-Mutawakel in the streets of Sanaa, testifying to the continuing threat of political assasinations. The 72-year old Al-Mutawakel was one of the prominent architects of creating a democratic state in Yemen as a way of solving the country's problems. The assassination of such an important politician was widely condemned by all parties and groups. The assassination came shortly after of them had signed the authorisation for Hadi to form a new government. Al-Mutawakel himself was Hashemite, and although he was seen as an independent the fact that he was targeted indicates that the Shia Houthis were the real target, suggesting that defeated groups might have been behind it, among them the tribal and military wings of the Islamist Brotherhood Party, Al-Islah. “The assassination of Al-Mutawakel was an attempt to obstruct the formation of the government and the creation of a democratic state,” Hassan Zaid, secretary-general of the Al-Haq Party, said. Al-Mutawakel is the third Houthi leader to be assassinated after Abdel-Karim Jadban and Ahmed Sharafeddin, and this latest killing might now lead the Houthis to form their salvation council instead of depending on Hadi to form a new government.
