In the early hours of Thursday April 7, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi ceded his power to a new council in a major shake-up to the country’s political form. The decision came five days after the start of a two-month nationwide truce and as a result of local as well as regional and international circumstance. President Hadi said in a televised statement that the new body, the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), shall manage Yemen’s political, military and security affairs during what he called a “transitional period”.
The main aim of announcing the PLC is to unify all the political, tribal, social, military, and security factions of Yemen under one umbrella. The Houthis militia have been among the country’s most vicious belligerents since the outbreak of civil war in 2011. Many other and often smaller rebel groups joined the Houthis, fuelling the war and worsening the situation. The Houthis and their supporter militias managed to oust the major political groups and usurp the legitimate government in large parts of the country, leading President Hadi to call upon the Gulf countries for military support. This lead the Arab Coalition campaign against the Houthis, targeting insurgency infrastructure and forces. Nevertheless, friction and power conflict within the legitimate government have led to its weakening and current state of deterioration.
The above circumstances have led the national coalition, supported by the Arab Coalition, to forge a new strategy for dealing with the Houthi’s intransigence and their avoiding accountability to agreements during the past period.
Forming the PLC
The new presidential council is headed by Rashad Muhammed Al-Alimi, and comprised of seven members, which are: Sultan Ali Al-Arada, Tariq Mohammed Saleh, Abdulrahman Abu Zara’a, Abdullah Bawazeer, Othman Hussein Megally, Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, and Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi. The council members represent the wide political and military influences across the country and brings together Yemini divisions under one political body. The ambition for this council is to facilitate peace dialogues and promote seize fire in entire Yemen. Looking closer, several observations can be made about the newly formed council:
1. Politically:
The head of the PLC, Rashad Al-Alimi, has been elected by all Yemeni partisans across the spectrum. Al-Alimi is a leader of the Popular Congress Party, an experienced politician, and an academic and military expert.
Member of the council, Sultan Ali Al-Arada, is a leader of the revolutionary forces in south of Yemen. He was instrumental in defeating the Houthi militias in the strategic city of Marib, which became emblematic of Yemen’s republicanism and defending the legitimacy against the insurgency. Both Al-Arada and Abdullah Bawazeer are members of Al Islah party, and Bawazeer has also been the chief of staff of the president of Yemen for nearly 6 years.
Aidarous Al-Zubaidi has been the leader of one of the most influential factions in the south of Yemen, namely the Southern Transitional Council. It was founded in 2017 as sentiments of political isolation have germinated since 1994. As for Tariq Abdulla Saleh, a prominent military commander in the army with the rank of brigadier general. He is nephew of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and currently heads the National Resistance Forces based in the strategic city of Mocha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. In the case of Abdulrahman Abu Zara’a, he known for his participation in many battles against the Houthis across Yemen. Abu Zara’a also leads the Giants Brigades, a militia which managed in early 2022 to capture the southern oil province of Shabwa from the Houthis. He is also known to be a Salafist, one of the Muslim religious orientations.
Othman Megally is a lawmaker and one of the tribal leaders in Yemen’s southwest Saada province, the main stronghold of the Houthis. In 2003, he joined the General People's Congress and held several political positions, most notably Minister of Agriculture. And finally, Faraj Al-Bahsani, currently the governor of Hadhramaut and is also a major general commanding the second military region that operates in the province.
2. Geographically:
It is noted that the council is representative of all Yemeni regions outlined in the constitution and the National Dialogue Conference, with Tahama being the only exception. Each of the council members represent a Yemeni region: for Azan, Othman Megally and Triq Abdulla Saleh; the Janad region is represented by Rashad Al-Alimi; the region of Aden is represented by Aidarous Al-Zubaidi and Abdulrahman Abu Zara’a; Sultan Ali Al-Arada represent the region of Saba; and Faraj Al-Bahsani and Abdullah Bawazeer represent the region of Hadhramaut.
3. Militarily:
Most council members have extensive military and security experience and have engaged in direct combat against Houthi and rebel groups. This may indicate a strategic willingness to fight and liberate Yemen from Houthis rebel groups, which is a key priority for the council, either through political dialogue or direct combat of necessary.
Reasons for Change
There are different reasons behind the formation of the PLC. As mentioned above, the current state of the legitimate government, coupled with international and regional circumstances, have created the need for new strategic approach that address those challenges, which can be summarised as follows:
1. Division within the legitimate government due to internal and external factors, which have compromised the unity of the legitimate front, and weakened its ability to effectively face the Houthi rebel groups.
2. Conflicting priorities as a result of new and emerging geopolitical factors. Such disagreements, even sometimes opposition within the government, have resulted in the its inability to control the entire liberated regions.
3. Crumbling economic conditions, lived by all Yemenis as the result of the ongoing war, instigated by the Houthi’s overturning of the legitimate government. Sky high commodity prices and hyperinflation have been mainly caused by oil and gas exports coming to a near-complete halt.
4. Government operating from abraod has affected its ability to influence and take effective control of Yemeni regions.
5. Yemeni groups having external links has driven the rift among the national factions, negatively affecting the legitimacy of the government.
Aims of Legitimacy
For reasons outlined so far, new strategic solutions had to be sought. The new council, therefore, aims to overcome these difficulties, by achieving the following goals:
1. Unifying anti-Houthi groups in one front, to take capture back Yemeni regions that fell to the Houthi militias, and to restore peace.
2. To expand the institution of presidency, by including all political and military factions to take equal part in the legitimate government, under a unified Yemen, guided by the Gulf initiative and its execution mechanisms, and the auspices of the United Nations.
3. Prioritising dialogue for sustainable peace, if the Houthi militias opt to join the negotiation table; otherwise, the PLC would be effective in its unity in countering the Houthi insurgency.
4. Delaying other political agenda for the time being, legitimate or otherwise, until the full restoration of legitimacy over Yemen. Such political disagreements would be addressed through negotiations that aim to set final and sustainable resolution.
Duties of the PLC
The presidential council faces immense challenges in the following period. To be successful, the council must keep in sight a number of goals, which are:
1. Re-establishing government institutions based in Aden as a temporary capital, and ensuring the normal resumption of all government functions, including security, political, economic, and civil services, across the entire liberated regions.
2. Reaching an agreement on who would assume the roles of minister of defence and minister of interior, for these two ministerial positions are key to unifying all militant factions under one banner. The various brigades and militias would be merged into the institutional military and would no longer be influenced by conflicting political or tribal loyalties. This goal is key to the success of the PLC’s upcoming mission.
3. Coordinating with coalition countries supporting the legitimate government to ensure all factions adhere by agreements signed, and in line with the objectives announced in 2015 when the coalition was formed. This would help the newly formed council avoid any past shortcomings.
4. The members of the council carry big responsibilities for the success of the council. Both the president as well as each of the members must play an active role in driving the unifying vision of the council, away from tribal, political, or personal affiliations.
5. Advancing Yemen’s economy, by re-opening oil and gas ports, and all fields, to drive fresh hard currency into the economy, and recovering the purchasing power of the Yemen Rial.
6. Fixing fiscal shortcomings, by invigorating the Yemeni central bank, capturing national revenue into the sovereign reserves, and setting up a national budget.
7. Restoring Yemenis’ trust in national institutions, by establishing security and providing basic civil services, including water, electricity, fuel, services, and commodities.
8. Re-organising Houthi counterinsurgency, and addressing past shortcomings, which led to losing key strategic regions to the rebel groups. This objective requires immediately capacity improvement of government forces, which have been weakened in the previous period.
In summary, the main objective of the new council is to unify the different factions of the legitimate government, restore its capabilities, and provide the much-needed resources in ways that meet the expectations of the Yemeni nation. This goal shall pave the way to effective military countering of Houthi separatist militias in the coming period, while keeping the door open for political dialogue. The success of the new presidential council highly depends on its ability to establish harmony and understanding between its diverse political components, and its ability to capture key learnings from the past, to overcome political, economic, and military challenges facing Yemen in the period to come.
