Party of Yemen’s ex-president pledges to challenge UN sanctions

 

The angry reaction from the General People’s Congress (GPC) comes amid news reports that the UNSC is seriously mulling sanctions on Saleh and leading Houthi rebel figures, including travel bans and the freezing of assets for their role in derailing the transitional process in the troubled country. 

 

The party said that sanctions would be counterproductive. “Any sanctions against the former president will be regarded as a slap in the face for the sacrifices that the party has made since 2011,” Ahmed al-Soufi, a media advisor to the former president, told Middle East Eye. “If the UN has any charge against any members of the party, it should present evidence to the party and we are ready to discuss it.”

 

Yemen’s long-serving president was forced to hand over power in February 2012 after more than three decades in office following a year of nationwide protests against his government. 

 

Despite Yemen electing a new president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and forming a new government, the former president is accused by critics of stirring up violence in the country to undermine the authorities. 

 

In February 2013, the UNSC issued a strong statement signalling its intention to impose sanctions on the former president and other officials accused of fomenting instability in the country. 

 

In recent weeks, Saleh’s opponents have accused him of facilitating the Houthi rebels’ takeover of the capital on 21 September. The north Yemen rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, were met with little resistance when they gained control of the capital and some other provinces of the country. 

 

 

Along with arranging big rallies in the streets, the GPC is also threatening to withdraw from the political settlement and boycott the government, a move that would obstruct the president’s current efforts to form a new government.

 

“The international community would torpedo the political settlement in Yemen and betray people’s ambitions for stability and security. The GPC is an important pillar of the settlement and stability,” al-Soufi said.

 

Simultaneously, the party has issued an angry statement accusing Jamal Binomar, the UN special envoy to Yemen, of developing a hostile attitude towards the party about the role of Saleh at a meeting last week with the ambassadors of the group of G10 states sponsoring the transition process. 

 

“Any attempt to impose sanctions on any member of the GPC, its allies or any Yemeni citizen will herald a serious setback in efforts of the settlement, bring it back to the starting point and will negatively impact on the GPC’s engagement in the settlement or the coming government,” the party said in a statement posted on the party’s official website on 29 October.

 

 

Al Jazeera and some other media outlets reported on 21 October that a UN panel of experts that visited Yemen recently concluded that the former president is involved in undermining the transition, and proposed that Saleh, his son and three Houthi leaders should face sanctions.

 

But later reports said the US has proposed to the permanent members of the Security Council to drop the names of Saleh’s son, Ahmed, and the leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and restrict sanctions to Saleh and two Houthi field commanders, Abu Ali al-Hakem and Abu Younis al-Houthi.

 

According to the al-Oula daily that quoted a western source, the Americans want to discipline Saleh for “supporting the Houthis with cash and arms to grab Amran province and Sana’a and using al-Qaeda to attack oil facilities and assassination [of security officials],” while al-Hakem will be sanctioned for seizing Amran and an army brigade, detonating houses and attempting to assassinate President Hadi.  

 

Abu Younis Al Houthi is seen as a spoiler of the transitional period because of his role in taking control of the remote of village of Dammaj in Saada early this year and displacing Salafis and attacking the US embassy.

 

 

As the serving president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and the newly appointed Prime Minister Khaled Bahah are frantically endeavouring to form a new government amid growing violence, observers predict that the sanctions on Saleh and the Houthis could make their job more difficult.

 

“Saleh’s party is still sharing 50 per cent of the outgoing cabinet seats, most of the provinces’ governors were appointed by Saleh,” Mohammed al-Dhahiri, a professor of political science at Sana’a University, told MEE. But the most fearful card in Saleh’s hand, said al-Dhahiri, is his control over the Republican Guard. “Saleh has the power to harm but not to rule or build the country.”

 

 

Saleh’s name popped up again when the Houthi rebels swiftly and smoothly took over many provinces in northern Yemen in recent months. 

 

Saleh is said to have facilitated the Houthis’ victories by encouraging his supporters to back the rebels despite combating them in six wars from 2004 to 2010. 

 

Saleh’s critics say that he is using the Houthis to settle scores with the parties that revolted against his government in 2011, including the al-Ahmer tribe and the Islamist Islah party. 

 

Many local officials in the war-torn provinces, who spoke to MEE, confirmed that Saleh’s supporters played an instrumental role in enabling the Houthis to achieve quick victories. 

 

For example, in the northern provinces of Amran and Jawf, former Saleh loyalists signed non-aggression pact with the Houthis that allowed them to enter their territories to fight members of the Islah party. 

 

In Bayda province in south Yemen, a local government official said that some units of the Republican Guard aided the Houthis with soldiers and weapons during the continuing battles with al-Qaeda and allied tribes. 

 

According to al-Dhahiri, there are many signs of Saleh’s covert coalition with the Houthis. 

 

“Saleh’s media have stopped criticising the Houthis. Some army units that remained loyal to the former president refused to execute orders. Also, the Houthis selectively target the interests of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and turned their back to the houses of Saleh and his allies.”

 

But Saleh's supporters argue that his sources of power have eroded in the last three years, starting with the defection of his long-time ally Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the commander of the dissolved First Armoured Division in 2011.

 

During the uprising against his government, many powerful and religious figures who used to form important sources of support switched sides and supported the youth-led protesters. 

 

Saleh also lost grip on the Republican Guard when President Hadi dismissed his son, who is now ambassador to the UAE, and dissolved the elite forces. 

 

Disputing these allegations, al-Soufi said: “We engaged in six wars against the Houthis while other parties smoothly handed over Amran province to the Houthis.”

 

Al-Soufi claimed that the international community is trying to use sanctions to twist the party’s arm about their stand on preserving a united Yemen.

 

“They want to pass separation [of the south]. They think that by intimidating us with sanctions, they would abandon Yemen unification.”

 

While the UN appears determined to punish Saleh, some analysts in Yemen questioned the ability of the sanctions to tame the former president or the Houthis 

leaders.

 

Abdul Sallam Mohammed, the director of Sana’a-based Abaad Studies Centre, told MEE that the sanctions would have been productive if they were put in place before the Houthis’ capture of the capital.

 

“The sanctions would not be effective after the fall of Sana’a,” Mohammed said, adding that the former president and his son ended their political future when they handed over the capital to the Houthis. As for the Houthis, said Mohammed, their movement originated in the caves of Saada province.

 

“The Houthis will not be impacted by the travel ban or assets freeze since the Houthis live in caves in Maran, Saada, northern Yemen. If the UN sought to keep Yemen [united], it should have issued the sanctions before the capture of Sana’a which would have deterred Saleh and his son from collaborating with the Houthis.”