| The appointment of Khaled Bahah as the new prime minister of Yemen is a sign of “shifting grounds” in the Arab country since he is a figure respected by the Yemeni revolutionaries, an analyst tells Press TV.
Saab Shaath, a Middle East expert in Belfast, told Press TV in an interview Tuesday, “When he (Bahah) was serving as Yemen’s ambassador to Canada in 2011, he became the first Yemeni diplomat to declare his support for the revolution and he broke ranks with the [former dictator] Ali Abdullah Saleh regime then, and the man faced huge difficulties.”
The analyst described Bahah as “an experienced politician who has a respectable record in public service and commands respect among the revolutionaries,” and referred to his appointment as a “total political U-turn.”
“The appointment (of Bahah)… demonstrates shifting grounds in Yemen,” Shaath said.
The comments come as Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi on Monday officially appointed Bahah as the country’s new prime minister to form a new national unity government.
Previous prime minister-designate Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak was forced to turn down the post on Thursday amid a standoff between revolutionary Ansarullah leaders and the president.
The Ansarullah movement is affiliated to the Houthi tribe, which played a key role in the ouster of Saleh.
Prior to the appointment of Bahah, Ansarullah activists staged demonstrations in the capital, Sana’a, for more than a month, demanding the resignation of the government over its corruption and marginalization of the Shia community in Yemen.
On September 21, Ansarullah fighters took over Sana’a following week-long clashes across the country.
Shaath asserted that revolutionary advances have galvanized popular support across Yemen and weakened US and Saudi influence in Yemen. |