As Houthi militants clashed on Saturday against soldiers dispatched in the northern province of Amran, tribesmen gathered in the capital, Sana’a, calling on President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to immediately expel Qatar’s Ambassador to Yemen as they accused the Gulf state to have been meddling within Yemen internal affairs by promoting terror.
Prominent tribal leader and lawmaker, Sheikh Mohammed bin Naji al-Shayif, said in a comment on Saturday, “We demand the government immediately recall Yemeni ambassador from Doha because of the damage Qatar has caused to our country.” Scathing in his critic of Qatar, the official went on drawing a parallel in between al-Islah party (Sunni radical faction which acts an umbrella for several sub-factions, among which the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Ahmar’s Hashid confederation of tribes) and terrorism.
He noted, “Doha is hindering political progress in Yemen and is aiding terrorist organizations such as the opposition Islah Party.” For the first time since Saudi Arabia earlier in March outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood altogether, branding it a terror organization, one of Yemen’s most prominent and influential politician has dared speak against al-Islah in such derogatory terms.
A powerful political entity within Yemen, al-Islah has for decades acted a buffer to the General People’s Congress; its leadership actually played a key instrumental role on bringing down former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime back in 2011, as it threw its weight behind protesters. Three years after Yemen uprising, al-Islah is being ostracised, shun by its former foreign allies, namely Saudi Arabia for its connection to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Although al-Islah has never been linked directly to any terror activities, politicians are keen to see President Hadi take precautionary measure against the faction, a move analysts have understood as purely political.
Whether or not President Hadi will agree to stand against Qatar and al-Islah now remains to be seen.
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