Yemen’s President Transfers Power to Leadership Council in Surprise Bid for Peace

Houthi rebels skeptical of Saudi/UAE backed initiative

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi handed over his powers to a newly formed Presidential Leadership Council on Thursday, tasked with negotiating an end to the civil war that has been raging for the past seven and a half years.

“I irreversibly delegate to the Presidential Leadership Council my full powers in accordance with the constitution and the Gulf Initiative and its executive mechanism,” Hadi, speaking from Riyadh, said on state television.

He also dismissed Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a Sunni Islamist-leaning general who is particularly hated by the Shiite Houthis rebels.

And for the first time, the Yemeni Presidency referred to the “Ansar Allah Al Houthi group,” and not the “Houthi terrorist group.”

But Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a prominent Houthi leader and former president of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, criticized Hadi’s actions, saying on his Twitter account that “Hadi does not have any powers to transfer it to others.” However, Houthi quickly deleted the tweet.

Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam criticized the move as a farce and a “desperate attempt to restructure the ranks of mercenaries to push them toward further escalation.”

The UN brokered a two-month truce on April 2, the first since 2016, which would also allow fuel imports into Houthi-held areas and flights from Sanaa to Jordan and Egypt.

Hadi announced his decision before dawn on Thursday, the day the consultations in the Saudi capital among the various Yemeni parties were supposed to end, talks meant to reach a political solution to the war and to the instability that has plagued the country since the Arab Spring in 2011.

The architects of the leadership restructuring were keen to avoid the continuation of a weak presidency. The members of the new council command significant military power, but Hadi granted the president of the Presidential Leadership Council absolute powers that the members cannot dispute.

According to the announcement, the eight-man Presidential Leadership Council will assume the political, military, and security management of the state throughout the transitional period, and its president will exercise supreme command over the armed forces, and authority to ratify agreements, declare a state of emergency and order public mobilization.

The council’s president is Rashad al-Alimi, one of Hadi’s most prominent political advisers since 2014. He was also one of the most prominent faces of the former regime, when he held high security and intelligence positions from 2000 until 2011.

Alimi has close ties with Saudi Arabia as well as with the United States. Hours before his appointment, the US special envoy for Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, met with Alimi regarding the Riyadh consultations.

The other seven council members, with the rank of vice president of the Council, are led by Sheikh Sultan al-Arada, the governor of Marib Province.

The council members also include two figures from the General People’s Congress party that used to rule Yemen: Brig. Gen. Tariq Saleh, the nephew of a former Yemeni president; and Sheikh Othman Majali, a Hadi adviser.

The council is divided equally between north and south. Alimi, Saleh, Arada, and Majali hail from northern Yemen, while Abdul Rahman Abu Zara’a, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, Faraj al-Bahsani, and Abdullah al-Alimi Bawazir come from the southern governorates.

Zoubaidi is considered loyal to the United Arab Emirates, and he is the head of the Southern Transitional Council, which seeks to separate the south from the north. Abu Zara’a commands the Salafi Giant Brigades (al-Weyat al-Amaliqa), and Bahsani is governor of Hadramut Province.

Hadi’s announcement of handing over power specifies that in the absence of a consensus within the council, decisions are taken “by a simple majority, and when the votes are equal, the side for which the chairman of the Leadership Council voted shall prevail.

“If a simple majority is not present, the matter is referred to a joint meeting with the presidency of the Consultation and Reconciliation Commission,” the announcement continues. Decisions are then taken in a joint meeting of the Presidential Leadership Council and the Presidency of the Consultation and Reconciliation Commission, by a simple majority of those present.

Hadi’s move was welcomed by Gulf and Arab leadership. The various countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council quickly supported the move, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia announced $3 billion in aid for Yemen’s economy.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received members of the Presidential Leadership Council, just hours after its formation, to assure them of the kingdom’s support for Yemen’s stability and everything that would end the civil war.

Maged al-Madhaji, executive director and co-founder of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, told The Media Line, “The formation of this council is a matter of concern for the Iran-backed Ansar Allah al-Houthi group because the council includes all Yemeni parties.”

We support Hadi’s decision, Madhaji said. A president with decisive powers who is “better able to manage the state in light of the conflict, and certainly the presence of representatives from all Yemeni parties, will enhance this council, its ability, and its powers,” he continued.

Muhammad Bahadi, a Yemeni political analyst, told The Media Line, “There are historical precedents for presidential councils in Yemen. Yemen has failed under many of them, but we hope for success from this council.

“Saudi Arabia must be the main supporter of the transition period, given that Riyadh is the only party that has influence. The United Nations should facilitate this process and grant it international legitimacy through a Security Council resolution,” he added.

“The Presidential Council must be seen as a first step in an indispensable path toward comprehensive reform of the government and the state and reaching an integrated political solution that ends the ongoing conflict in Yemen,” Bahadi said.

Fahd Debaji, a Saudi writer and political analyst, told The Media Line, “This move will not appeal to the war merchants, who are fueling the ongoing conflict in Yemen for monetary gain.

“The names presented represent all Yemenis with all their segments. The council’s word will be strong, and all we hope is that there will be international support for this council, and that consensus will continue among its members to get Yemen out of the hole it has fallen into,” Debaji said.