Yemen: a new government before results of the elections
Yemen, Politics, 5/19/2003

The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh formed on Saturday a new government including 17 new ministers out of 35, all of them belonging to the ruling People's Congress party.

Most of the prominent ministers including the prime minister have kept their posts, following the resignation of the former cabinet after the recent parliamentary elections whose final results have not been announced yet.

The Yemeni state run TV announced that Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bajmal returned back on top of a government composed of 35 members including 17 new ministers. The same as in the resigned government, all ministers in the new government belong to the " general people's congress" led by Saleh.

In addition to Bajmal, the foreign minister, the minister of the Interior, the oil minister, defense minister, information minister, the finance minister ( also a deputy prime minister) kept their posts. In addition, Ummah al-Aleem al-Sawsawa was appointed in the place Wahibah al-Faqih as a minister for human rights, she is the only woman minister in the government. Al-Sawsawa was Yemen's ambassador to the Netherlands.

On the other hand, new ministers were appointed for the ministries of justice, agriculture, transport and legal affairs. Two new ministries were established after merging the ministries of tourism and culture on the one hand and the ministries of the waters and the environment, on the other.

The Yemeni news agency said that Saleh has appointed a former rival politician for him, the former official at the Yemeni communist party, Salem Saleh Muhammad as his special advisor.

However, Bajmal government is facing tremendous challenges to creating new posts as unemployment rate reached 36%, to preserving security, the activity of al-Qaeda organization and tribal conflicts.

The elections committee have not yet officially announced the final results of the elections which took place on April 27th. However, sources said that the "general people's congress" received 225 seats at least in the parliament which is composed of 301 members, followed by the opposition al-Islah ( reforms) party with 46 seats.

Four persons were killed and other 3 were injured on Saturday in tribal confrontations in Sanaa.

Previous Stories:
  Khatami discusses in Yemen security cooperation, American presence   (5/16/2003)
  Mubarak, Saleh hold telephone talks   (5/14/2003)
  Yemen: Bajmal forms government, al-Ahmar presides parliament, Saleh reminds: Democracy is bitter   (5/12/2003)

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