SANAA, 19 February 2005 — A small Yemeni opposition party has been merged into the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party, GPC sources said yesterday.
The sources said negotiations between the GPCs Secretary-General Abdul-Kareem Al-Iryani and head of the Republican Party (RP) Muhammad Ali Abu-Luhoum, have come out with an agreement under which the RP would stand under the GPCs umbrella.
Under the deal, leaders of the RP who support the merger would be appointed in leading posts in the ruling party. The GPC is headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Established in 1992, the Republican Party suspended its political activities in the aftermath of the failed 1994 secession attempt led by socialist politicians in the southern part of the Arab country.
The RP chairman, who descends from the influential Abu-Luhoum family, backed the separation bid that sparked a 10-week civil war.
The Abu-Luhoum clan heads the powerful Bakil tribal grouping, the rival bloc to the Hashid grouping, which is headed by Parliament speaker Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmar.
