Slain Saleh’s party elects new chief

sanaa — The political party of Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December by his erstwhile Houthi rebel allies, on Sunday named his replacement.

The General People’s Congress, a key player in Yemeni politics for decades, elected former deputy premier Sadiq Amin Aburas by consensus at a meeting of its general committee, it said in a statement.

It made no mention of the Houthis, but said it would continue to “reject and resist aggression and siege” against Yemen, a reference to a military campaign being waged since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.

Aburas, 65, is seen as having been close to Saleh, the longtime Yemeni strongman killed by Houthi gunmen on December 4 after their alliance collapsed.

Saleh held power in the Arabian Peninsula country for three decades before being ousted in 2012 following mass protests.

He later allied with his former enemies, the Iran-backed Houthis, to seize the capital in 2014 from the internationally backed government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

In late 2017, the Saleh-Houthi alliance fell apart after Saleh offered to “turn the page” with Riyadh in return for a ceasefire and the lifting of a crippling blockade. That sparked fighting in the streets of Sanaa, and Saleh was gunned down as he tried to flee.

The GPC said Aburas would lead it until its next general assembly, a date for which could not yet be set. —