Yemen’s Hadi government to announce amnesty for Saleh party

President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s internationally recognised government is expected to announce an amnesty for all those who cooperated with the Houthi group and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress Party (GPC), Al Khaleej Online reported.

In a series of tweets yesterday by the Prime Minister of Yemen, Ahmed Bin Dagher, wrote: “Ahmed Ali is from us and we are from him”, in reference to the former president’s son. The announcement comes amid reports that the Saudi-led coalition is considering allowing Ahmed Ali to return to Yemen and join the fight against the Houthis.

The Houthi armed group subsequently announced an amnesty for all civilians today that participated in the fight in early December, following Saleh’s killing. Houthi prisoners of war connected to the fighting in Sana’a will be released without prejudice and provided political and civil rights, the group said.

Read: Yemen mothers protest over UAE-led secret prisons

The Yemen civil war erupted in 2014 when the Houthi group, alongside Saleh’s forces, took over the capital Sana’a. Hadi was forced to request support from a Saudi-led coalition to neutralise threats posed by the alliance in March 2015.

In the midst of changing conflict dynamics, and the weakening of the Saleh forces, negative sentiments against the Houthi group increased as a result of the mass arrests, killings and raids in Sana’a.

Last week, the Hadi national army retook the Bayhan district alongside both UAE backed forces and Al-Islah Party, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliated group. The Houthis were forced to flee north to Marib as a result of the military push by the new alliance.