On April 28, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its correspondent in Ta’iz Khaled Hammadi: “Yesterday on Thursday, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi dismissed all the political leaders that had secessionist tendencies and were affiliated with the United Arab Emirates after a bitter conflict with them, namely Aden Governor Aidarus az-Zoubaidi and many ministers. And he ordered the launching of investigations into some of them on charges linked to national security. At this level, political sources mentioned to Al-Quds al-Arabi: “Hadi engaged in confrontation with government officials affiliated with the UAE, after they went too far in undermining the security and political climate in the southern governorates that are under the government’s control, in a way which affected the government’s performance and President Hadi’s authority.”

“So, yesterday night, President Hadi announced via the governmental SABA News Agency the issuance of Presidential Decree number 30 for 2017, the first article of which featured the appointment of Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Hamid al-Muflihi as Aden’s governor and Aidarus az-Zoubaidi’s successor. He also issued another Presidential Decree, removing four ministers from their positions and appointing new ones in their stead, namely Judge Jamal Muhammad Omar as Justice Minister, Mu’in Abdul-Malek Sa’id as Minister of Public Works and Highways, Ibtihaj al-Kamal as Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Muhammad Mohsen Askar as Minister of Human Rights, and Samir Mohsen Shibani as Deputy Minister of Human Rights. Based on that same decision, Hani Ali bin Braik was dismissed from his post as Minister of State and referred for investigation, knowing this is the first public presidential measure by which a minister is ousted and subject to investigation.

“For its part, Al-Quds al-Arabi learned from a governmental source that President Hadi expelled and referred Bin Braik for investigation against the backdrop of charges linked to “political rebellion” against the president’s authority and working in the service of other sides. The source continued: “Bin Braik is one of the most prominent Salafi sheikhs loyal to the UAE, which enjoys the upper hand in southern Yemen. He was appointed in his governmental post upon the request and under the pressures of the UAE, and played various roles while in the government against the inclinations of the Yemeni Cabinet.” And in an attempt to minimize the negative repercussions of and reactions towards these decisions, which came as a surprise to everyone, Hadi ordered the appointment of Aidarus az-Zoubaidi as ambassador at the Foreign Ministry...

“It is worth mentioning at this level that these presidential decrees coincided with major security tensions at the Aden Airport yesterday, after airport security detained the commander of the Presidential Guard’s Fourth Brigade who is close to President Hadi upon his arrival from Cairo, and prevented him from entering Aden City [details of the incident are mentioned in a separate article carried by Al-Quds al-Arabi].”