New Yemen being built

By Nasser Arrabyee,30/11/2011

Yemenis have just started to rebuild their country after about one year of wars and unrest.

However, they are still facing a lot of challenges. To build is much more difficult than to destroy.

The most important two decisions to rebuild the new Yemen were taken immediately after the conflicting parties signed last week a road map showing step by step how both the opposition and the ruling party would run the country until February 2014 when a civil and democratic State  is fully established.

The first decision was to call on Yemenis to elect a new President on February 21st,  2012 to run the country  during the coming two years required for establishing the long-awaited  modern State that would meet the ambitions and aspirations of all Yemenis.

The second decision was to entrust an opposition leader to form a national consensus government shared equally by both the opposition and the ruling party to normalize the life after the wars and help the new elected president to establish the new State.

The two important decisions were taken by the Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who has now constitutional powers to implement the Saudi-led  Gulf brokered deal for transferring the power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

According to the GCC deal and its implementation mechanism, which were signed by all conflicting parties on November 23rd, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, President Saleh will remain legitimate until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2011.

The candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in the February Presidential elections must be the current Vice President Mr Hadi, according to the road map, which is called the implementation mechanism, which was drawn by the UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Bin Omar and approved and signed by all conflicting parties in Yemen. 

Undoubtedly, Mr Hadi would be the new elected President for the two years of transitional period.

By then,  Hadi will have his legitimacy directly from  the people, not like the case now when  his powers come only from the constitutional authorization of President Saleh.

During next week,  the unity government will be declared and its members will take  the constitutional oath before Mr Hadi. 

To avoid the conflict over the important ministries like the defense and oil, the opposition will make two lists with each one having 50 percent of the portfolios. And the ruling party will choose one of the lists to be occupied by its members.

The UN Security Council and international community supported the agreement which came as implementation of its resolution 2014. 

The SC urged the two sides to stick to all steps of the road map and implement them on time. The two sides should stop violence, and whoever violates would be held accountable.

The president Saleh from his side, issued a general amnesty for all Yemenis who made mistakes against the government during the 11 month of the crisis. 

But the Presidential  amnesty does not include those who tried to assassinate Saleh on June 3, 2011.

Although the solution of the Yemeni crisis was and is supported by the whole international community, a lot of difficulties are facing the implementation of the road map. The most dangerous challenge is the security and military situation. 

The militants of the Islamist party, Islah, are still in sporadic confrontations with  the army and security in many places like Taiz and Arhab.

The separatist movement in the south and Al Houth Shiite rebels  in the north  and some independent youth, still refuse the GCC deal.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Bin Omar said Monday November 28, 2011, that the separatist movement in the south and Al Houthi in the north and the independent youth should be represented in the new interim government.

The separatist movement in the south insist on separation and having their own independent state. Al Houthi group wants to establish their own Shiite state in the north at the borders with the Sunni Saudi Arabia.

More  than 30 Salafi  people were killed last week in battles between Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Salafi fighters in the area of Dammaj, in Saada, north of the country. 

 Al Houthi group says, the Salafi   center in Damnaj was established in the early 1980s by the Yemeni and Saudi governments with the aim of abolishing the Shiite. 

The Dammaj Salafi school has about 12,000 students from Yemen and outside Yemen.

About 11 foreign students were killed in the battles of last week in Dammaj according to the spokesman of the Salafi school, Abu Ismail.