Fake gold, sometimes preferable to the real stuff
Technical Committee adds new members
These members are Abdullah al-Nakhebi, general secretary of SM; Abdul-Qawi Mohamed Rashad; and Ali Hassan Zaki. Sheikh Mohammed Musa al-Ameri, Head of Rashad Salafi Union and Yaser al-Ruaini, an activist in the revolution, were also added to the committee under the new decree.
On the other hand, the decree replaced the representatives of the Houthis on the Technical Committee, appointing Abdul Rahamn Sharafeddin instead of Saleh Habrah and appointing Mohammed Nasser Qaed Al-Bukhaiti in place of Mohammed Abdul Salam.
Most committee members expressed their surprise at the decision since it was not entirely in line with initial plans to support the committee’s work and the National Dialogue in general.
“We had requested from the president on several occasions to include representatives of the Southern Movement (Hirak), and the idea was to add three members of Hirak and replace the current two members, Tamam Bashraheel and Abdullah Al-Asnaj, in case they refused to join,” committee member Nadia Al-Sakkaf said.
The committee also highlighted the urgent need to execute confidence-building measures aimed at bringing in the south to the dialogue. However, little has been accomplished on that front.
Al-Sakkaf said there is concern that the new addition would create a rift in the committee and would send negative messages to the south regarding inclusion in the dialogue.
Qasim Askar, the former ambassador and the general secretary of the Southern Movement, said new members don’t represent the Southern Movement, Hirak. He said members of the Technical Committee itself support this opinion by suspending their work in the committee.
“No dialogue unless an end to the colonization from the south,” he said.
Askar said Hirak hopes to have good, loving relations with all people in the future but during what he considers to be the current colonizing system.
Dhaif Allah Al-Shami, a member of the al Houthis’ political office, said the new presidential decree is based on American orders, which came as a result of the meeting between the technical committee and U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein.
Al-Shami said the six new members represent neither Hirak nor the Salifists.
Abdo Sale, Islah Party’s political department member, said the decree came is in response to recommendations by the Technical Committee to the president as well as the requests from the Southern Movement to be represented in the committee.
“The decision came as a complement for the committee, but Islah party was not present in this decision,” he said.
