The Full Story of Last Hours before Hadi’s Resignation
Diaa Abu Taam
Houthis are ruling Yemen. Full stop. This how the word "quickly," uttered by Ansarullah leader, Sayyed Abdul Malek Badreddine al-Houthi, turned the page of Yemen's history and started new one under the title: "Command is for army and committees." Ansarullah announced that it was heading to forming a presidential council with the army as its backbone. The Gulf states were astounded; Yemen held its breath, while the international community whispered the password to the ears of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the government of Khaled Bahah.
What happened before the resignation speeches were delivered?
The Security Council and Washington: We shall not interfere and we will deal with the strongest!
This world tendency was no surprise at all. In fact, ever since Ansarullah and the popular committees took over Sanaa on September 21, it was clear that the West and particularly the US regarded the Yemeni crisis building on their interests only; and he who controls Yemen's western coastline and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait can do in Yemen whatever he sees suitable, as long as he does not tamper with the interests of the West.
The intensified contacts conducted by Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi before his resignation bore fruit. All it took was the return of international envoy Jamal Bin Omar from New York to Sanaa to hand Hadi the pencil with which the latter should sign the decision of his stepping down from ruling the transitional authority, following the ousting of his predecessor Abdullah Saleh in 2011.
Furthermore, sources indicate that Bin Omar dashing to call the Houthis before any other Yemeni side constituted a negative sign among parties that have always relied on the international support to face the Houthis. Soon after, the sign turned into a truth, when Bin Omar told Hadi's advisors: "You have failed. Therefore, step down and do not look behind." "We call the Yemenis for dialogue and self-restraint," the international envoy told a news conference afterwards. This was an announced international recognition of the presidential council prior to its formation.
Hours before the return of Bin Omar, Ansarullah's representative was at the presidential consultancy committee, asking the president to literally write "quickly" (in its full meaning according to Sayyed al-Houthi in his last televised speech): widening the constitutional committee, freezing the six-county project, and mobilizing militarily to solve the complication of Maareb district.
Once again, Hadu entered the game of stalling by talking about the inclusion of the Gulf initiative's items in the paper, and then forwarding it to the government for deliberation. But the deadline given by the Houthis was about to end. Hadi again made contacts for the last time, yet this time he firstly spoke to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "You have to give us more time to make contacts with the West," the Kingdom replied, leaving the man with a futile series of contacts.
Hadi cast a glance on the internal sides: The army, with most of its capacities, supports the demands of Ansarullah which sides with the military in the face of the bloody attacks by al-Qaeda; most of the parties hold him responsible for the failure of running the country, including his closest advisors who admitted that the Houthis "are now ruling with or without you." Therefore, staying in power only means full partnership with Ansarullah in running the country's most graphic details, and this is what the regional states supporting Hadi will not bear.
Before the southerners, the locals of Saadah took to the streets in celebration of the resignation of Hadi and Bahah's government. The Gulf satellite channels failed, throughout the long hours of open coverage after the announcement of the resignation, to find one single condemnation in the South of the Houthis taking over power. Even more, the representatives of the parties of the south confirmed that time was not suitable to talk about separation, since what mattered was stability in the north and the formation of the presidential council.
Thus, the contacts carried out by Ansarullah for the past three months were more efficient than the provocation practiced by the said channels. Even the leaked phone calls between Ali Abdullah Saleh and some Ansarullah leaderships turned from a material of incitement against the Houthis into a counter propaganda that has reassured all those incensed over the performance of al-Ahmar family, Reform Party, and the goriness of "Ansar al-Sharia" affiliated with al-Qaeda; this confirmed that the choices of the tribes' chiefs who allied with the Houthis were right, since the Houthis are in the dark the same as in the light.
Moreover, sources in the south told al-Ahed news site that the army siding with Ansarullah constituted a guarantee for the south, whereas the new chapter of Yemen's history would be written by the Yemenis alone, without foreign blackmailing, with no room for sectarianism.
Yemen then entered a new phase. On January 19, only hours after besieging the presidential palace in south the capital, an Ansarullah official told al-Ahed confirmed that moving towards the presidential palace and the government headquarters was just the beginning of writing the first letters of Yemen's new history and that Ansarullah had the full vision and capacity to lead the country out of the current chaos to a future where Yemenis could build up the pillars of a corruption-free state.
But, what is certain is that the performance of Absarullah and the army are now in crosshairs, in order to clinch the stability of the state institutions and to control the security situation which too many will try to shake. Perhaps, the angle of the security triangle shall be in Maareb which was pending an official decision to face al-Qaeda.
Source: al- Ahed news
