New Cabinet “Within Days,” Gulf to Assist Yemen

Yemen’s prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindwa promised to announce a new cabinet “within days”, saying Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would help the country with oil and electricity. Basindwa was tasked under a Gulf-brokered peace plan with forming the interim cabinet after President Ali Abdullah Saleh handed power to his deputy. He also told reporters that “making fuel, electricity and cooking gas available for the population will be among the new administration’s priorities.” Additionally, Yemen plans to set up a fund for development projects and several Gulf states have been asked to present plans for the development of several Yemeni cities. Additionally, Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi met with the ambassadors of the permanent members of U.N. Security Council, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and the ambassador of the European Union to Yemen to discuss the country’s future.

Mark Toner said the United States is “stand[ing] by ready to assist in any way [it] can,” and rejected reports that Saleh plans to come to New York to receive medical treatment. The United Nations Security Council called for “those behind killings and rights abuses in Yemen to be ‘held accountable’ as demands grew for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to face trial,” and Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkul Karman urged the International Criminal Court prosecutor to act against Saleh.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that hundreds of thousands of Yemenis are demonstrating across the country to demand President  Saleh face trial for charges ranging from corruption to deadly crackdowns on protests. Tom Finn writes that ousting Saleh may have been “the easy part” and “Yemenis are waiting nervously to see how Saleh’s chief rivals, Major General Ali Mohsen, an old confidant of the President who defected in March, and the powerful al-Ahmar clan respond to the violence.”