SANA'A: Newly-elected President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi revealed that he was under great pressure from former strongman and veteran politician President Ali Abdullah Saleh as the latter is threatening to recall his loyalists from the coalition government as members of the opposition continue to challenge his authority. Although President Saleh renounced the presidency by signing a brokered power-transfer proposal last November, he still retains many powers with his family members in charge of key strategic military posts and a wide support network. Perhaps more importantly, Saleh remains the Leader of the General People's Congress, which controls the parliament. Ever since he stepped down and the elections of Hadi to the presidency, Saleh systematically refused to fade in the shadows as his opponents hoped him to, fiercely criticizing al-Islah's growing hold over power and calls for the restructuring the armed forces. And indeed, with his son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh at the head of the powerful Republican Guards and his nephews, Yehia Mohamed Saleh and Ammar Mohamed Saleh respectively heading the Central Security Forces and National Security, Saleh has no wish to see his hold over Yemen cast to the winds. Caught in between a rock and a hard place, President Hadi is now seeking to mediate with Saleh. Hadi has appointed a committee of leading politicians in a bid “to convince Saleh to abandon his threats,” an official told Bikyamasr.com. If Saleh were to ask his loyalists to abandon their posts in the government, Hadi would have no choice but to dissolve the cabinet and form a new one. Amidst such political uncertainties, growing sectarian tensions in the north, a fight against al-Qaeda in the southern provinces and the rising of the secessionist movement in Aden, Hadi cannot afford more instability. As provisioned by the power-transfer, President Hadi has to oversee the formation of a coalition government where both the GPC and the main block of the Opposition, the JMP will have equal seats. By dissolving the current cabinet, Saleh knows that he will not lose out but rather rid himself of a few enemies. Over recent weeks, Prime Minister Mohamed Salem Basendwa's critics of the regime and Saleh, are believed to have deeply angered Yemen's former president as he knows that behind the PM stands his foe, Sheikh Hameed al-Ahmar, the very man who is said to have plotted the attack on the presidential palace last year which left Saleh deeply injured. This new wrestling match is further proof of Hadi's inabilities so far to assert himself as Yemen's leader, proving that his control is merely a mirage. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/VwipA Tags: Controlling Coalition, Government, Saleh, Yemen Section: International, Latest News, Yemen
