Reshuffle in Yemen amid protests

An attack on Yemen’s electricity infrastructure in Marib led to a loss of power for much of the country on 10 June, leading the next day to demonstrations and a protest in front of President Abd Rubuh Hadi’s residence. This precipitated a long-expected cabinet reshuffle that came across as something of a panic.

Yemen has looked particularly fragile in the past month, with a major offensive in Abyan/Shabwa against AQAP, fighting in Amran between al-Huthi, supporters of Islah and an army brigade and continuing problems in the south. In Sana’a, fuel shortages have led to long queues for diesel and elsewhere exacerbated already severe humanitarian problems and led to protests in several Yemeni towns.

Criticism of the government had reached new heights before the electricity failure. Much of it was directed at Prime Minister Muhammad Basindwa, who nevertheless survived the reshuffle – perhaps because very few other politicians might be willing to take on the job at present.

The new ministers are:

• Ahmad Ubaid Bin Daghr, deputy prime minister, minister of telecommunications and information technology;
• Abdullah Mohsen al-Akwa, deputy prime minister, minister of electricity;
• Nasser Taha Mustafa, minister of information;
• Ahmed Abdul Kader Shaya, minister of oil and minerals;
• Mohammed Mansour Zemam, minister of finance; and
• Jamal Abdullah al-Salal, minister of foreign affairs.

They are thought to be close to Hadi, while representing the General People’s Congress/Joint Meeting Parties coalition in the cabinet. The new oil minister replaces Khaled Mahfouz Bahah, who was appointed to the job only three months ago, having been brought back from Canada to take up a post he had previously occupied three years earlier. Abu Bakr al-Qirby, the long-serving foreign minister, may have been surprised at his sudden exit, sweetened by an appointment to the Majlis al-Shoura (upper house of parliament). His replacement has done well as ambassador to the UN. The outgoing minister of finance has been appointed governor of Hodeida.

The president has also appointed Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak as a director of his office. He made his reputation as secretary general of the National Dialogue Conference. Mansour Ali Ahmed al-Betani was made secretary-general of the presidency.

The reshuffle will at best buy Hadi a little time. The armed forces will go after the saboteurs but problems with tribes in Marib are endemic and symptomatic of wider political, economic and social problems – and thus likely to recur.

For more news and expert analysis about Yemen, please see Yemen Focus.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Nigeria: Power reforms need funding

The Nigerian federal government has approached the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for a $450 million loan to fund on-going power sector reforms. The request was made by Vice-President Namadi Sambo earlier in the month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, when bank president Ahmed Ali paid him a courtesy visit.

The vice-president, who chairs the power sector reform committee, had been in Saudi Arabia for Umrah, the lesser Hajj during the fasting month of Ramadan.
 

Sambo informed the IDB president that Nigeria still required about $450 million to augment transmission in an on-going power sector reform that is targeting the generation of 20,000 MW of electricity. He also solicited the support of the bank in financing other projects beneficial to Nigeria, such as the construction of a highway linking Lagos State, the commercial hub of the country, to Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
 

Ali noted that his visit was a reinforcement of the cooperation between IDB and Nigeria, stating that his organisation had already approved three of the five projects for which the country recently sought funding. The other two are still being considered.
 

The approved projects are the $17.9 million construction of four science-specialist secondary schools, a $43.15 million 330-bed capacity specialist hospital, and the $81 million Zaria water project.
 

All the projects are based in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria. Their location has raised quite a few eyebrows, in view of the fact that Sambo is a former governor of the state.
 

Some of the projects, such as four secondary schools, are also considered rather pricy in the opinion of a local quantity surveyor. The $81 million project to improve the water supply across the Zaria metropolis also raises a red flag: the project has been underway for several years but remains incomplete in spite of the funds that have gone into it. Some have called for an investigation.
 

Multiple sources claim that a company owned by the vice-president is involved with the project and has been working on several components of it, dating back to the 1990s.
 

For more news and expert analysis about Nigeria, please see Nigeria Focus and Nigeria Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates