Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has sworn in the country’s new government despite opposition from Ansarullah revolutionaries and the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC).
According to Yemeni local media, the unity government took the oath of office at the presidential palace in the capital, Sana’a, on Sunday amid the absence of some of its members.
On Saturday, Ansarullah revolutionaries, also known as the Houthis, rejected the newly-formed government as “disappointing,” saying the cabinet line-up “did not adhere to the agreed criteria of the peace and national partnership agreement.”
The Shia movement also called for the replacement of a number of newly-appointed ministers on the grounds of corruption and lacking qualification.
The 36-member government, which was unveiled on Friday, included members of the Ansarullah movement and the GPC.
Meanwhile, members of the GPC, which is headed by Yemen’s former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, also pulled out of the cabinet after the UN imposed sanctions on Saleh. The party accused Hadi of backing the bans.
It is not immediately clear if the ministers from the Houthis and the GPC have been replaced.
On November 2, Yemen’s main political parties, including the Ansarullah revolutionaries, signed a UN-brokered truce deal in a bid to put an end to the political crisis crippling the country.
The revolutionaries have driven al-Qaeda militants out of many areas in the country. They also played a major role in the ouster of the country’s former dictator in 2012.
MR/MKA
