Yemen rebels firm grip
HOUTHIS DECLARE ‘SECURITY COMMISSION’ WITH FORMER MINISTERS
SANA’A: Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia announced yesterday the formation of a “security commission”, including former ministers, a day after its takeover which opponents denounced as a “coup”.
The declaration was followed by an explosion outside the Houthi-controlled presidential palace in the capital Sana’a that wounded three security officers and a civilian, witnesses said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb, but Sunni Muslim militants in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula have repeatedly bombed and clashed with the Houthis, raising fears that their takeover might stoke an all-out sectarian war.
Also yesterday morning, Houthi gunmen fired in the air to disperse dozens of people protesting against the movement’s actions near Sana’a’s main university.
The Houthis said the defence and interior ministers in the government of outgoing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi were among the 18 members of the security commission.
It was the first statement from the militia, also known as Ansarullah, since it dissolved parliament and created a “presidential council” on Friday in a move it said was to fill a power vacuum.
The Shia militia overran Sana’a in September and seized the presidential palace and key government buildings last month, prompting Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah to tender their resignations.
The security commission “will lead the country’s affairs until the establishment of a presidential council”, said the statement published yesterday by the official Saba news agency, which the Houthis seized in January.
It said the commission would be chaired by Gen Mahmoud al-Subaihi, defence minister in the government of Mr Hadi, who offered to resign on Jan 22 under pressure from the Houthis.
But his appointment and his presence alongside Houthi leaders when they announced their takeover on Friday was met with distrust from his entourage, considered close to Mr Hadi.
The head of his cabinet, Abdel Aziz Mansour, suggested the general had been “compelled by force to appear alongside” the Houthis. “We lost contact with him, and we are concerned for his life,” he said.
On Friday the Houthis said they would set up a national council of 551 members to replace the legislature in the violence-wracked country, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. The five-member presidential council would form a transitional government to govern for two years, the Houthis announced in a “constitutional declaration”.
The announcement came after a Wednesday deadline set by the militia for political parties to resolve the crisis passed with no agreement. It sparked protests in the capital and in the oil-rich eastern province of Marib, where influential tribal leaders said they “rejected the authors of this coup”.
Yemen has been riven by instability since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2012. Mr Saleh has been accused of backing the Houthis, as has Shia-dominated Iran.
The turmoil has raised fears that Yemen could become a failed state.