Yemen: Transition Government Sworn in

On Saturday, Yemen’s transition government was sworn in as part of the GCC backed deal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. The new administration consists of 35 members of both the opposition parties and loyalists, nine of whom served in the previous cabinet, as Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi said during the swearing in ceremony “your first task is to create an appropriate atmosphere to realize that national reconciliation starts from here, your Cabinet of ministers.” However, the new cabinet faces a host of challenges, as fighting broke out on Saturday in the southern province of Abyan, where 11 militants and soldiers were killed.

After receiving her Nobel Peace Prize, Tawakul Karman stated in a speech in Oslo Saleh “will not leave. He wants to (push) the country into civil war.” Karman discussed how the revolution in Yemen has largely been ignored by the international community and noted that Yemen “did not get the international understanding, support or attention of the other revolutions in the region.” This comes as a Yemeni official security and opposition forces would withdrawal from the streets of Taez in an attempt to restore stability to the city that has been plagued by violence.