Sworn in today after weeks of dispute, the new Yemeni government seems to be on the verge of collapse more or less immediately, as the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) has withdrawn its members from the cabinet.
The GPC is run by former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is facing new UN sanctions over allegations that he is backing the Shi’ite Houthi rebels, despite Saleh’s last decade in power punctuated by almost non-stop war with the Houthis.
Saleh rejected the charges, but also withdrew his support for the parliament, saying he’s also willing to give back the immunity he was given when he stepped down in 2012.
Though the US was a close ally of Saleh when he was a dictator, they’ve condemned him ever since, and are now backing current ruler Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was elected in 2012 in a single-candidate “election” in which no votes were not allowed.
Will there ever be a genuinely democratic and free Arab country?