ANALYSIS: Infighting hurts anti Houthi war effort in Yemen

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Internecine disputes within Yemen’s embattled government appear to have escalated since President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi ordered a government reshuffle last week.

The reshuffle was rejected by Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah which has reportedly led to a rift in the government -- a government which for more than one year has struggled to reestablish itself after the Shia Houthi movement overran capital Sanaa in September 2014 before going on to capture large swathes of the country.

The inter-government dispute emerged earlier this month pitting President Hadi -- currently in Aden the country’s temporary capital -- against PM Bahah who has remained in Saudi capital Riyadh.

The conflict appears to hinge on the sensitive post of foreign minister -- a position currently held by Riad Yassin who Hadi appointed in March to replace Abdullah al-Saidi after the latter was captured when the Houthis overran Sanaa.

For the last six months Hadi -- during his various visits to Arab capitals -- has introduced Yassin as his FM while Bahah has reportedly continued to describe al-Saidi as the "real" foreign minister.

In a surprise move on Dec. 1 however Hadi definitively replaced both Yassin and al-Saidi assigning chief government negotiator Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi as the new foreign minister.

Hadi’s reshuffle also called for the replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs the interior intelligence communications civil services and transportation.

According to Yemen’s official SABA news agency Hadi appointed Gen. Hussein Mohamed Arab as interior minister succeeding Gen. Abdo Mohamed al-Huzaifi who was appointed as Yemen’s new intelligence chief.

- ‘Illegal’

Following the announcement of the reshuffle however a government source close to Bahah told Anadolu Agency that the latter had rejected the changes as "illegal and unconstitutional".

Of the five new ministers only Abdel Aziz Jabar and Mohamed Qabati have so far been sworn in as the new ministers of civil services and information respectively.

Last week Houthi commentators mocked the apparent dispute between the president and PM saying they were "fighting over illusory positions" according to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel.

Abdelaziz al-Mejidi editor-in-chief of Yemeni daily Al-Shahed described the timing of Hadi’s reshuffle as "terrible".

"Instead of making gains on the battlefield and securing liberated areas… the president chose to order a controversial cabinet reshuffle" he said.

According to al-Mejidi the reshuffle will remain of little use as long as large swathes of the country remain under Houthi control.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency a Yemeni military source said that the president and government "ought to return to Aden to direct the battle against the Houthis instead of engaging in side battles that only serve the enemy’s interests".

November the source added had seen little progress in the ongoing fight over Yemen’s Taiz province while forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- a Houthi ally -- had successfully advanced on Lahij province.

He went on to attribute the precarious military situation to "leadership failures" on the part of the government.

Yemen has remained in turmoil since September of last year when the Houthis overran Sanaa and other parts of the country forcing Hadi and his government to flee to Saudi Arabia.

In March Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains in Yemen and restoring Hadi’s government.

Hadi has since returned to the port city of Aden which currently serves as the temporary seat of his government.

Fighting meanwhile continues to rage in several parts of the country between the Houthis and their allies on one hand and Saudi-backed pro-Hadi forces on the other.

According to UN figures some 5700 Yemenis have been killed since Riyadh and its allies began air and ground operations against Houthi targets across the war-torn country.