Military reorganization bid of Yemen’s president welcomed
YEMEN’S divided armed and security forces have been reorganized into four main military units by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in a move aimed at creating a more unified army.
A blend of rejoicing and concern was the initial reaction by most Yemenis: Happiness that the army has finally been reorganized and the deadlock over the issue perhaps finally over, alongside concern over what the decrees might bring about.
But the fears were soon dispelled after the dismissed military officials and the commanders of dissolved military institutions welcomed the decrees and announced their willingness to obey them.
The presidential decrees also at least partially met increased demands by protesting youths that loyalists and relatives of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh step down from key army and government posts. The protesters also want the army reorganized under unified, national leadership. On Friday, tens of thousands of them rallied across the country in support of Hadi’s decrees.
Under the move, two major military institutions — the Republican Guard and First Armored Division — were abolished and the armed forces divided into four main categories: Land, air, naval and border forces. Hadi’s decree stripped both Brig. Gen. Ahmed Sadeh, the former president’s eldest son and commander of the Republican Guard and First Armored Division Commander Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar of their military powers. The move also ordered the formation of special missile units that will be under direct command of the president, who is also supreme commander of the armed forces.
A major dispute erupted over the past two weeks between Hadi and Brig. Gen. Saleh regarding control of the long-range Scud missiles, still under Republican Guard command. Ahmed refused Hadi’s order to turn them over to the Defense Ministry, but due to mounting pressures, he ordered his men to start handing them over, according to military sources.
The move was also seen as a way of unifying the army, which has been suffering from divisions since March 2011 when Al-Ahmar and other generals defected against then President Saleh to protest the mass killing of peaceful protesters. The presidential decrees also are in line with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) power transfer deal that saw Saleh relinquish power to his deputy Hadi in February.
Saleh’s nephew and former son-in-law Central Security Forces Chief of Staff Yahya Mohammed Saleh, the former president’s nephew and former son-in-law, was also dismissed, replaced by Ahmed Al-Magdashi. He had played a major role in protecting his uncle’s rule.
The Yemeni people, especially the youths leading the revolution at Sanaa’s Change Square, rejoiced at the news, believing it a major step toward building a state governed by institutions and not influential figures and gangs.
“Today is a victory for the Yemeni revolution. Finally the army has been reorganized,” vegetable vendor Mohammed Al-Hubishi said. He said that he’d been hard-pressed to find a copy of the Akbar Al-Youm daily newspaper in the morning, such important news making the edition an early sellout. “We started to feel disappointed that Hadi would never have the courage to reorganize the army but today he proved all others wrong.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Abaad Studies and Research Center Abdusalam Mohammed said: “At this point, nobody can disobey the presidential decrees because they enjoy local, regional, and international legitimacy. Also the UN Security Council is about to impose sanctions on the figures standing in the way of the transition.”
Meanwhile, Al-Ahmar, the deposed commander of the First Armored Division, welcomed the decrees in an interview with the Al-Jazeera satellite network shortly after they were reported by state television. “I fully support the presidential decrees because they serve the best interest of Yemen’s armed forces and the Republic of Yemen,” he said.
Yahya Saleh, the former president’s nephew stripped of his command, also welcomed the decrees in a letter to Hadi posted on the Al-Motamar news website, the official site for the General People’s Congress party (GPC), founded and led by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
And to the surprise of many people, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Sadeh, currently in Rome seeking to buy a villa for his family, declared his full support for Hadi’s decrees, according to a statement published in news websites close to him.
Political analysts agree that pressure from the international community played a major part in convincing Saleh’s relatives to accept the presidential decrees. A day before they were announced, UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar threatened anyone impeding the transition in the country with sanctions.
