Yemen on the verge of militant conflict

Current president Abdrabuh Mansour Hady Tensions have been escalating between the partners to the political settlement in Yemen based on the Gulf Initiative,  which were signed in the Saudi capital Riyadh last November. The timetable for ?the settlement has now expired, raising concerns about a possible  return to the militant political conflict in Yemen.
New yemeni president Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, who was the former leader's deputy, has inherited a host of problems in the impverished Gulf country, including a teetering economy, a humanitarian food crisis, a resurgent Al-Qaeda, ethnic tension and a restive south.
Disagreements have risen to the surface between the General Public Congress Party (GPC) and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), shortly after the presidential elections held one month ago. The bid to restructure the military and security institutions is demed to have failed after former president Ali Abdullah Saleh demanded the sacking of 10 military leaders who joined the uprising which called for Saleh's resignation.
Yemeni sources reveal that things have not been  going well recently between Saleh and his former deputy Hadi who feels his hands are tied and unable to apply the terms of the Gulf initiative due to Saleh's interference.
Saleh is still playing a major role in Yemen politics by maintaining his position as president of the GPC, while the JMP insists on keeping Saleh at arms length from political authority. Many would consider Saleh's continued tole an exploitation of the judicial immunity granted to him as part of the power handover.
Sources claim that behind-the-scenes regional and international efforts are in place to convince Saleh to leave the country for two years so that Hadi has a free hand to apply the required reforms, while the US has suggested a delay to restructuring the military which was firmly refused by the JMP.
Saleh has also issued  threats that his party's ministers will resign if the opposition chooses to maintain its position, Hadi had composed a committee to create a suitable political media climate in which to facilitate the application of the Gulf deal's terms. The committee consists of figures from all the different parties and factions in Yemen, including the second deputy president of the GPC, Abdelkarim al-Eryani, the president of the JMB Abdelwahab al-Anssi, the Socialist Party's General Secretary, Yassin al-Said, the GPC's Assistant General Secretary, Ahmed Ebeid Ben Daghr and others. Observers also expect that Hady mai be forced to assign a new national unity government.
The current government has been under fire recently from Saleh loyalists after Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa accused Saleh of killing 52 protesters in the Friday of Dignity on March 18 last year. In response, Saleh's supporters have accused the government of being weak and not capable of addressing the challenges of the transitional period, referring particulary to security as Al-Qaeda groups spread throughout several Yemeni cities and attacks on the Houthis and the South Movement become more frequent.
As well as tackling Al-Qaeda, the Yemen government has been waging a battle against  Shia Muslim fighters in the north of the country. Thousands have died in the five-year conflict with the Houthi fighters, a mixture of ethnic and tribal figures, who are seeking independence in the north. The southern movement also seeks their own state in the south but through peaceful means. The group is also known as the Peaceful Southern Movement.
JMP leader Mohammed Qahtan condemned the media war between the GPC and Basindwa, calling for "the reasonable voices inside the GPC to stop this attitude",  stressing that "the millions who voted for President Hadi will never accept he be anybody's puppet."
A spokesperson for Hadi urged the public to keep in mind that Basindwa's government did not represent a particular political front, but all the parties who were signatory to the Gulf Initiative.