Yemen Prime Minister urges opposition renounce GCC deal

Yemen Observer Staff

Aug 14, 2012

Yemen Prime Minister called on former opposition group to abandon the GCC deal which put an end to the political turmoil in the country, days after the Yemeni president considered a reshuffle in the government.

In an opinion piece published on August 8 in a Saudi-owned newspaper, al-Watan, Muhammed Salim Basindwa called on all “revolutionary parties” including the former opposition coalition to “restore the momentum of the revolution as the only revolutionary path to achieve the revolution goals”.

 “The momentum of the revolution can be restored only through abandoning entirely the political settlement,” According to Basindwa’s opinion.

Basindwa was referring to the GCC deal which stated the government be shared equally between the opposition group, known as the Joint Meeting Parties and former ruling party head by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Yemeni government, shared equally between the political factions and led now by the former opposition, has failed since its formation in November 2011 to bring stability back to the country after a year and a half of political unrest.

 Lack of basic services of electricity as well as a deteriorating security situation, which fall under the authority of the JMP’s portfolios, have led the Yemeni president to discuss a reshuffle in the government, according to a tweet on August 10 by Muhammed al-Basha , a media officer at the Yemeni embassy in Washington.

Basindwa blamed former president Saleh of the current situation and accused the international al community’s role of being “slothful”.

In his comment posted in Facebook, Muhammed al-Makaleh, a Yemeni writer and official at the Socialist Party, said: “Whenever it fail to restore the hope to the Yemeni people, the government tends to assign the blame on the former regime. And it has worked to convince the public opinion…”