Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi Sanaa – Ali Rabie Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi held a senior leadership meeting with General People’s Congress Party on Wednesday after he was reported to have made explosive remarks about his predecessor, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The latter is still chairman of the party despite stepping down from the presidency in February. Saleh had relinquished his position as part of the Gulf Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism which also resulted in the election of Hadi [formerly Saleh’s deputy] as the consensus president for a two-year transitional period.
Party sources have told Arabstoday the meeting Hadi held with the party’s supreme General Committee, was part of “efforts” to lessen the strain in the relationship between Hadi and Saleh. Tensions arose between the two due to remarks attributed by the former in which he threatened to reveal corruption by Saleh and his cohorts. It was also alleged that Hadi looked to remove the former president’s immunity which was granted to him by parliament in accordance with the Gulf Initiative agreement. The source added that the comments had sent shockwaves through the party leadership, promoting pro-Saleh camps to threaten to dismiss Hadi from his positions as General People’s Congress Party\'s First Deputy Chairman and Secretary General.
Sources close to Hadi had reported his displeasure of his predecessor’s behaviour, especially citing interference in the running of some ministries still controlled by leaders loyal to him. This in addition to reports of Hadi’s unhappiness with Saleh’s son [who commands the Yemeni Republican Guard] for refusing to turn in Russian-made Scud missiles in his possession.
While Saleh was not explicitly named in Hadi’s remarks, they strongly implied he was the one being referenced. This has prompted senior party officials to make efforts to prevent the gap between the two from widening further. The party leadership sent a senior delegation to ask Hadi to clarify his comments whereupon, sources say, he denied mentioning Saleh’s name but refused to disown the general meaning of his remarks, which he is believed to have made off the record to the media.
A source who was present at the party delegation’s meeting with Hadi said the meeting was “excellent” and that they had agreed with the President that party decisions should be made by its most senior body, the General Committee. The source also reported that Hadi had confirmed he was keen to preserve the political settlement and keep the peace.
The same source said Hadi had asked them not interfere in his row with Saleh, saying “Do not interfere between me and Ali Abdullah Saleh because I know things you do not.” The party delegation agreed with Hadi on his criticism of Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basendwah, according to the source, who added that the President suggested that they appoint another “consensus figure” to the position.
Official news sources reported Hadi telling senior party officials present at the meeting that the situation was “a test for all us,” adding that “all partisan, political and social camps must be mindful of the homeland’s higher interests and avoid political wrong-footing and disingenuousness in all their shapes and forms.”
“The situation is still critical and sensitive and requires proceeding with genuine patriotism and belief that Yemen will exit the maelstrom to the horizons of development and growth,” the government-run Yemeni News Agency [Saba] reported Hadi as saying.
Saba also reported that Hadi requested that the members of his party’s senior leadership, as well as other parties and political forces, to accelerate the process of selecting the delegates who will take part in the Comprehensive National Dialogue Conference, asserting a deadline of the end of December for the naming of all participants.
The party delegates are reported to have hinted at Hadi’s unfairness towards his own party in comparison with other parties and political forces, raising the issue of the “methodical exclusion” of their leadership from their government positions “in violation of the spirit of the political settlement agreement.” The party officials are also reported to have reasserted their commitment to the Gulf initiative and their loyalty to Hadi.
President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi had received on Wednesday the final report by the committee tasked with preparing for the national dialogue conference. Hadi is set to make review the report and its recommendations and appoint a date for its convention. The meeting is part of the Gulf initiative, which should also see the writing of a new constitution for the country that is put to a popular referendum, followed by general elections in early 2014.