Pro-Saudi Yemen President Sacks PM

Powerful General Appointed as New Vice President

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the President of pro-Saudi Yemeni territory, has fired his prime minister and vice president today, a significant shakeup in the capital of the would-be government, which holds the “temporary” capital of Aden and other parts of the nation’s south.

Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr, a former Telecommunications Minister, will take over the premiership, while Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar has been appointed as the new vice president. Hadi was himself a general, and was seen as close to Ahmar.

Hadi was “elected” president of Yemen in 2012, in a single-candidate election which didn’t allow any option but to vote in favor of him. This was to be a two-year term, but was extended an additional year in early 2014 on the idea that Hadi would remain in power until the constitution was finished and free elections were held.

The elections never happened, and a year later, facing growing pressure from the Shi’ite Houthis, who had since seized the capital, Hadi resigned and fled to Saudi Arabia. Saudi forces attacked Yemen in March of 2015, vowing to reinstall Hadi, and has been fighting a war to get him back into power ever since.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.