Local Editor
The government with no country was plunged into deeper crisis on Sunday. Fugitive Yemeni president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed a new vice-president and prime minister, pro-Hadi media reported, sacking Prime Minister Khaled Bahah in a major shake-up ahead of peace talks later this month.
Yemen has been in a civil war for more than a year between Hadi’s supporters and the Houthi Ansarullah movement that has sucked in a Saudi-led alliance and caused a major humanitarian crisis in one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.
Yemen’s state television reported that Hadi had appointed Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, a politically powerful army general who split violently with former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, as the new vice-president.
A Yemeni government official said the shake-up could undermine U.N.-sponsored peace talks, scheduled to start in Kuwait on April 18.
"Bahah was in favor of a political settlement and the appointment of Ali Mohsen is a victory for the hardline wing," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia has signaled it was in favor of a peaceful settlement in Yemen, concluding two prisoner swap deals with the Houthis since last month.
The two sides have confirmed a truce starting at midnight on April 10 ahead of the peace talks, planned to follow a week later.
Sources: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
