Yemen: Formation of Unity Government; Fighting Escalates

Yemen’s prime minister-designate, Mohammed Basindawa is expected to announce the formation of a national unity government, as it ”will be formed within the next couple of days, and if they do it today it is even better,” Michele Cervone d’Urso, the E.U.’s ambassador to Yemen, said. This comes as the Yemeni government formed a group of officials to monitor the military and oversee the end to the fighting that has erupted over the past few days. “Under the agreement, the military committee, headed by Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, would run the armed forces ̶ key units of which are run by Saleh’s relatives ̶ and oversee the end of fighting and the return of forces to barracks,” as reported by Al-Arabiya.

Deadly clashes between Yemeni troops, anti-government militias, and tribal forces erupted over the past few days with seven people killed on Saturday, putting the death toll to 30 since violence broke out on Thursday. “Three members of one family were killed in shelling blamed on government forces, while two gunmen were shot dead during clashes with forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh,” witnesses said. Fighting has been especially intense in Taez, as Basindawa warned that his side would reconsider certain commitments in the transition deal if the violence did not stop in Taez. Yet, even after President Ali Abdullah Saleh handed over power, Sudarsan Raghavan of the New York Times wrote that “the autocrat still exerts enormous presidential power, issuing decrees and engaging with world leaders. His family still controls the security forces, which activists say have continued to kill and arrest protesters. His portrait still hangs ubiquitously around the capital.”