Fired by Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Yemeni PM Khaled Bahah today rejected his removal, saying it undermined the legitimacy of the state, and was in violation of the nation’s constitution.
Bahah went on to claim the move severely undermined the upcoming peace talks with the Shi’ite Houthi movement, and threatened to keep the year-long Saudi war against Yemen going.
Hadi claimed Bahah had “failed to ease the suffering of our people,” and replaced him with a close political ally. He also ousted the former vice president, replacing him with a top general who had previously led offensives against the Houthis.
All of this is giving the impression that Hadi isn’t particularly supportive to the peace process, and wants to make sure he dominates the mostly exiled “government” in the talks, to avoid any terms that would risk his continued rule from finding their way into a peace deal.
President Hadi was “elected” in a single-candidate vote in 2012 to a 2-year term in office. He extended his own term an additional year in 2014, and it was scheduled to end February of 2015. This never happened, however, because Hadi resigned in January 2015, and the Saudis launched a war to reinstall him in March of 2015.