SANA’A, May 27 — The U.N envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar left Sana’a Sunday morning after he failed to convince the officers who are reportedly loyal to the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the 3rd Brigade—which is part of the Republican Guard—to end their rebellion against their newly-appointed commander.

Benomar managed to convince the 3rd Brigade’s former chief Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who is also the former President’s Ali Abdullah Saleh’s nephew, to obey President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi’s decrees and hand over the command to his appointed successor, Abdu-Rahman Al-Halili.

But since then, Al-Halili has not been able to enter the 3rd Brigade headquarters as some officers headed by Abdu-Hamid Maqwala carried out a rebellion against him and prevented him from getting into the camp. Maqwala is from Saleh’s village and he is well-known for his support to him.

In early April, Hadi issued republican decrees dismissing dozens of military commanders, mostly from Saleh’s loyalists and relatives. Some of these commanders such as Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar—Saleh’s half brother who is the former chief of the Air Force—and Tariq Mohammed Saleh obeyed Hadi’s decrees after a long period of rebellion.

Only when they were convinced by Benomar,  they hand over command of the key military institutions.

The officers’ rebellion against their newly-appointed commander prompted Benomar to pay another visit to Yemen with the aim of convincing them to stop their rebellion and let Al-Halili carry out his duties.

Yet he failed this time to press Saleh’s loyalists into listening to their commander, even though the US has announced sanctions against officials obstructing the power transition in the country.

Benomar is set to submit a report to the Security Council which will hold a session on Yemen on Tuesday to discuss how the GCC-brokered accord is being implemented in the country so far.

On Sunday the daily Akbar al-Youm newspaper reported, based on trusted sources, that Benomar held several meetings on Saturday with top officials with the aim of convincing them to end the rebellion in the 3rd Brigade, but said his efforts ended in vain.

Benomar met many officials including President Hadi,  former president Saleh and his son Ahmed — the commander of the Republican Guard — as well as Abdul-Karim Al-Eryani, a high-ranking figure in the General People Congress Party led by Saleh, the sources noted.

According to the paper, the sources said that Benomar made it clear to Saleh, Ahmed and Al-Eryani that it’s not in their favor if the Security Council holds a session on Yemen this Tuesday while the rebellion in the 3rd Brigade is still continuing.

Early this month, the American President Barack Obama issued an executive order for the Treasury to freeze any Yemeni official’s assets based in US if found trying to obstruct the GCC-brokered power transfer deal and the transitional process.