Aden – On June 3, the Yemeni government held its first meeting in a city AdenThe temporary capital of the government, a month after the appointment of a new head of the government is Salem Saleh bin BrikWho was finance minister.
A month ago, the Yemeni Prime Minister announced Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak Submitting his resignation to the President of the Presidential Command Council Rashad Al -AlimiAnd on the same day, the latter issued a presidential decision to appoint Ben Brik as prime minister, with the former members of the cabinet continued to perform their duties.
Ahmed bin Mubarak was appointed prime minister in early February 2024 in the same way, that is, he came at the head of a ready government formed by his predecessor Moeen Abdul Malik, who took over the Prime Minister in October 2018.
The President of the Presidential Command Council rejected Bin Mubarak’s request to make a ministerial amendment – in addition to differences that escalated between the two men in some files – a reason for Bin Mubarak’s submission for his resignation.
This change renewed a legal debate about how the prime minister’s resignation was not considered the resignation of the entire government, not only its president. Others believe that the current situation is an extension of a stage in which the consensus between the political parties over the constitutional texts in more than 16 years.
Over the past decade, I have seen Yemen Radical political and institutional transformations that exacerbated humanitarian and economic crises, and created an unprecedented division in the state’s structure.
These developments were not limited to the military and political levels only, but also extended to all the joints of the state and its institutions, which directly affected the lives of citizens.
To what extent reached the division in Yemeni institutions?
Yemen is witnessing a sharp division in various areas due to the separation of the country into two main regions, the first Houthi group in Sanaa.
The former president announced Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi In March 2015 that the city of Aden will be a “temporary capital” in light of the Houthis’ control of the capital, Sanaa, and their seizure of power in the coalition, at the time, with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
With the passage of time and the long period of war and division, the government began successively to transfer some state institutions to Aden and the areas under its control, or the creation of similar copies, which was also done by the Houthi group in its areas of control. Most institutions have two copies, including the government, parliament and the presidency, with the difference of international recognition in favor of the government institutions.
What is the shape of the Yemeni Presidency Foundation now?
On April 7, 2022, the Yemeni President Hadi announced the transfer of his powers to a presidential command council headed by Rashad Muhammad Al -Alimi, and the membership of 7 members with the degree of Vice -President.
All members of the Presidential Leadership Council are those against the Houthi group, but they are affiliated with different and competing powers, some of whom are at the top of striking military and political formations, and according to the geographical division, four belong to the northern province, and the same belonging to the southern governorates.
On the other side, the Houthi group has a similar council called the Supreme Political Council, formed by the group when it was allied with former President Abdullah Saleh in July 2016, and this council does not recognize any state other than Iran.
The Supreme Political Council consists of 8 members, equally between the Houthis and the General People’s Congress Party. His presidency was supposed to be a periodic among the eight members, but the chairmanship of this council was fixed to a member of the Houth Mahdi Al -Mashat.
After breaking the partnership between the Houthis and the conference in the events of December 2017, in which Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by the Houthis, the Supreme Political Council’s decision has become the Houthis, despite the participation of members of the Congress Party formally in the council.
What is the form of division in the longer Yemeni parliament?
The Yemeni Parliament can be considered one of the longest elected parliaments, as the last elections for the selection of members of the Council took place in April 2003, and the following elections were supposed to be held in April 2009, but an agreement between the parties participating in Parliament extended Omar’s additional two years, within what was then known as the “February Agreement”, which also stipulated reforms in the electoral system.
With the outbreak of the youth revolution in 2011, and the elections were not possible, the House of Representatives continued to work under a constitutional clause allowing it under the “Cairo Power”, before the Gulf initiative and its executive initiative stipulated that the parliament officially extend the work of Parliament.
After the Houthis took control of Sana’a, and their alliance with former President Saleh in July 2016, the group re -held sessions of the House of Representatives, but they did not obtain the legal quorum for holding the sessions of half + 1, where the House of Representatives consists of 301 members, so Parliament is divided into two wings, one of which is loyal to the Houthis in Sanaa, and the last of the internationally recognized government.
In 2017, former President Hadi issued a decision to transfer the headquarters of the House of Representatives to Aden, but it was not held in two short two sessions: the first in the city of “Sayyun” in Hadramout Governorate, eastern Yemen in 2019, with a valid legal quorum (more than half of the neighborhood members), and the second in the city of Aden in 2022.
Al -Saltan was often in the framework of a protocol to give the government confidence in the first session, or for members of the Presidential Command Council to take the constitutional oath before Parliament.
What are the reasons for not holding Parliament sessions?
Although the members supporting the government in the House of Representatives constitute the quorum necessary to hold the sessions, the sessions cannot be held due to political and security complications.
A member of the Yemeni Parliament, Shawky Al -Qadi, refers to several factors that disrupted the parliament, including the opposition of members of the Presidential Command Council, especially representatives. Southern Transitional Council Those who oppose the sessions of the House of Representatives in Aden, the temporary capital, where the forces of the transitional council actually control the city.
The judge talked about other factors, including what he said were influential leaders whose hands were contaminated with corruption and tampering with government revenues, and they are afraid of the role of the House of Representatives, in addition to political differences within the council.
While the pro -Houthi wing of the House of Representatives holds its sessions in Sanaa periodically, although he did not obtain the legal quorum for the convening of the sessions, the sessions are not broadcast on TV according to what is required by Yemeni law, which is questioned by the number of those present in those sessions and their legitimacy.
Where do the revenues of government institutions in Yemen come from?
The decision to transfer the headquarters of the Central Bank of Yemen and its operations from Sana’a to Aden in September 2016 formed the beginning of the economic division, after the Houthis rejected the decision, and the matter developed into the presence of something similar to the two currencies, after the Houthis retained old banknotes and their refusal to allow the circulation of the new edition of banknotes in their areas of control, and these monetary policies created a major difference in the value of the two editions against foreign currencies.
The division affected most aspects of financial revenues such as customs; The Houthis imposed new customs duties on imported goods as soon as they entered their areas of control, even if the importer had paid the fees in the government -controlled border crossing. While the goods that entered through the port of Hodeidah are not subject to fees again if they are transferred to the regions of government control.
In light of the political and administrative division in Yemen since the outbreak of the war, public revenues are collected through separate structures run by the two parties: the legitimate government in Aden, and the Houthi group in Sanaa.
This situation began specifically after the decision to transfer the central bank to Aden in September 2016. Since then, the payment of the salaries of government employees in some areas, especially under the control of the Houthis, has been stuck.
The government depends on the revenues coming from customs duties and taxes mainly, and a weak local production of oil and gas, in addition to external aid.
But it has been facing a major deficit since the export of oil was stopped after the Houthis bombed the export ports in November 2022, in addition to the weak infrastructure, corruption and conflict within the components that make up the government, all of which are factors that limit the efficiency of improving revenue.
Despite this, the government is still committed to paying the salaries of public sector employees in the areas it controls almost regularly, despite the significant deterioration in the value of the Yemeni riyal, as the exchange rate of one dollar reached 2500 riyals (one dollar was = 215 riyals in March 2015), in addition to the government’s spending on the services sector in part such as electricity and water.
On the other hand, the “government”, which is not recognized internationally, obtains revenues from customs and tax fees, in addition to the revenues of the telecommunications sector that are still under its control, yet a large part of the public sector employees in its areas does not receive their salaries on a monthly basis, as they were spent during the past years half a salary every 6 months.
Since January 2025, the Houthis began spending a “half -salary” on a monthly basis for government employees in the areas under their control, but the group stopped two months after its plan began, amid doubts about its ability to continue, due to the allocation of a large part of their expenses during the past years to the military aspect.
How does administrative division affect citizens?
The division in government institutions reached various fields such as issuing passports or ratification of academic certificates, as well as the division in the value of the riyal between the regions of government control and the Houthi group, when transferring the amount of 100,000 Yemeni riyals from the city of Aden to Sana’a, it reaches the latter of 21 thousand riyals, due to the difference in value between the old banknotes in the Houthis and the new edition in government control areas.
The same applies to obtaining passports, that is issued by the regions of the government controlled internationally, while the passports issued by the Houthi control areas are unacceptable except in a limited number of countries, which is forced by many who live in the Houthi areas to travel to the government’s control areas to extract a passport if they want to travel abroad. The same applies to certificates.