100 days without Yemen envoy to US, as PM ‘flees’ to Saudi

The internationally-recognised Yemeni government has been without an ambassador to Washington for 100 days according to a report on Debriefer.

The last person to hold the post, Ahmed Awadh Bin Mubarak, was appointed minister of foreign and expatriate affairs in December last year as part of a new cabinet formed under Saudi-based Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in accordance with the power-sharing Riyadh Agreement aimed at ending the dispute between the government and southern separatists backed by the UAE.

The report observed that “the absence of an ambassador in one of the important capitals in the world, if not the most important one at all in terms of decisions on the region, is incomprehensible for some observers.”

It has also been suggested that there are disagreements within the government over appointing a new ambassador in addition to reservations by Saudi-UAE over potential nominees.

READ: Houthi minister in Sanaa dies of COVID-19

Following the formation of the new unity government, some cabinet members including Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed returned to Yemen where their interim capital is based in the southern port city of Aden. However, soon after arriving on a flight late last year from Riyadh, the city’s airport was struck with three explosions leaving at least 25 dead, although none were among the government officials.

In a further set-back to Hadi’s government, last week the Presidential Palace in Aden was stormed by hundreds of protestors including retired military personnel, reportedly over unpaid wages and poor living conditions with other demonstrations breaking out in the Hadramout and Abyan provinces over corruption and rising food prices.

رئيس الوزراء د.معين عبدالملك يصل الرياض لإطلاع فخامة رئيس الجمهورية حول مستجدات الأوضاع السياسية والاقتصادية والعسكرية والأمنية، خاصة جهود استكمال تنفيذ اتفاق الرياض، وما تبذله الحكومة لتحسين الخدمات، إضافة للتباحث مع الأشقاء حول أوجه الدعم الاقتصادي للحكومة. pic.twitter.com/oGuOasOdZk

— رئاسة مجلس الوزراء اليمني (@Yemen_PM) March 21, 2021

Following the incident at Aden, it has been reported that Prime Minister Saeed has “fled” Yemen again and is now back in Riyadh. Yesterday the Prime Minister’s office tweeted that he had arrived in Riyadh to inform Hadi of “developments in the political, economic, military and security situation”, although it is unclear at this stage if he will be returning to Yemen. The Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency reported last week that other cabinet members were also making their exit.

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