Washington may freeze assets to boost Yemen transition

President Abd Rabbou Hadi of Yemen  President Barack Obama plans to give the Treasury Department authority on Wednesday to freeze US based assets of anyone who obstructs implementation of the Washington-backed political transition in Yemen, the Washington Post reported late Tuesday.
Administration officials said an executive order to be issued by Obama would also apply to US citizens who engaged in activity deemed a threat to Yemen’s security or political stability, the report said.
The order does not include a list of names or organizations already determined to be in violation, the report said. One official said it was designed as a deterrent to make clear to those who are even thinking of spoiling the transition to think again, the Post reported.
Washington has also stepped up its drone attacks in Yemen since president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February amid an al-Qaeda-fuelled rebellion in the south. According to Reuters, the Pentagon said this week it had recently resumed sending military trainers into the Gulf Arab country.
Washington backed a power transfer plan that made Hadi the successor to president Ali Abdullah Saleh after a year of mass protests which coincided with a split in the army that threatened to erupt into civil war.
The deal stipulates the new president should lead Yemen through a two-year period in the hope that the impoverished nation will be able to use that time to end political chaos.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda’s leader has released a 17-minute audio address aimed at swaying public opinion against Yemen’s new president, calling him a US agent and a traitor.
Ayman al-Zawahri attacked president Hadi for serving as vice president during the “corrupt rule” of deposed leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Al-Zawahri said, according to the Associated Press: “Out went a (US) agent and in came an agent”.
The audio was put online Tuesday, the same day that Yemen’s military announced that US troops were working directly with them in a major offensive against the militant network.