Yemen's new Presidential Council promises to bring peace

By Mohammed Alragawi

ISTANBUL (AA) - Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has dismissed Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and delegated his full powers to the newly formed eight-member Presidential Council to govern the country through a transitional period.

Hadi has been based in Saudi Arabia since fleeing to the kingdom in February 2015 after the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Head of the Presidential Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi said in his first speech broadcast on the state television that the council promises the Yemeni people to “work to end the war and establish peace,” describing the group as a “peace council.”

He also said the council is also a “defense, strength, and unity council, its mission is to defend the sovereignty of the country and protect the citizens.”

Nasser Altawil, a lecturer at Sanaa University, doubted the council’s goal as a “peace council” but described it as a “war council,” because its structure represents the major military components inside the country.

Members include the council's head Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, commander of the UAE-backed National Resistance Forces Tariq Mohammed Saleh, head of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Giants Brigades Abdulrahman Abu Zara’a, and head of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi.

It also includes former Marib Governor Sultan Ali Al-Arada, Othman Hussein Megally -- a lawmaker and a tribal leader in the main stronghold of the Houthis the southwestern Saada province of Yemen -- Governor of the Hadhramaut province and commander of the Second Military Region Maj. Gen. Faraj Salmin Al-Bahsani, and Director of the Office of the Presidency Abdullah Bawazeer, who is also considered part of Hadi’s inner circle.

Altawil told Anadolu Agency that the council’s “best performance will be in the case of war against the Houthi rebels,” because that is the “only thing that unites the council’s members.”

But the council’s head Al-Alimi set the main goals of the council to “restore the state and its institutions and achieve security and stability.”

The Arab League, along with the US, France, and Turkiye, expressed their support for the council and expressed optimism that it would lead the country to peace.

- ‘A necessary move’

Hours after its formation, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Yemen’s Presidential Council and voiced hope that the new council would “move Yemen from the state of war to the state of peace and development.”

Bin Salman urged the new body to "start negotiations with the Houthis under the UN auspices for a final and comprehensive solution."

To show its keenness to resolve the crisis in Yemen, Riyadh pledged $3 billion in emergency aid to the Yemeni economy, $1 billion of which will be provided by the UAE, as well as $300 million to fund the UN humanitarian operation in the country.

The more pressure the Saudis put on the council to maintain its cohesion, the more it would achieve in the coming period, said Altawil.

“As Saudi Arabia, the most influential actor in Yemen, is trying to seek its way out of Yemen, it also trying to unify anti-Houthi ranks and end their differences in order to build a stronger opponent against the Houthis,” he noted.

Altawil expects that after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when warring parties agreed to a two-month truce, Yemen will witness “new rounds of conflict and more extensive military clashes.”

Forming the council was “necessary” for Yemen as well, given the deteriorating health of the president, Altawil added.

- Houthis’ stubborn stance

In its initial response to the formation of the council, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam dismissed the move as "a desperate attempt to rearrange the ranks of the mercenaries" fighting in Yemen.

He said the move aims to “push towards further escalation.”

Abdulsalam said Yemen's future should be decided inside the country.

"Any activity outside Yemen's borders is merely a farce and recreation by aggressor nations," he said.

Ibrahim Jalal, an expert on Yemen affairs at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told Anadolu Agency that the Houthis fear that the attempt to reunify ranks of the Republican front would “improve the efficiency and unify goals of military operations to restore the state (from Houthis’ hands), given the military and security backgrounds of several council members.”

Jalal believes the road to peace is “long and full of obstacles,” and the first step is to ensure whether the Houthis would engage “seriously and in good faith” in negotiations with Yemeni parties.

He questioned the council’s goal to “seal an unfeasible and unjust peace agreement, just to fulfill the priorities of the external actors, without fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni public.

“The first priority of the Presidential Council should be to agree on a clear vision and unified realistic goals that touch the lives of the citizens economically, humanely, security-wise, and socially,” he said.

Jalal thinks the council must begin to revive state institutions and revenue sources, improve services, and restore hope.

The war in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands and left millions on the brink of famine as 30 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million are in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.