Yemeni Govt Announces New Ministerial Program, Pending Parliamentary Approval

Yemeni government meets in Aden, Yemen (Photo credit: Office of the Yemeni prime minister)
Yemeni government meets in Aden, Yemen (Photo credit: Office of the Yemeni prime minister)
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Yemeni Govt Announces New Ministerial Program, Pending Parliamentary Approval

Yemeni government meets in Aden, Yemen (Photo credit: Office of the Yemeni prime minister)
Yemeni government meets in Aden, Yemen (Photo credit: Office of the Yemeni prime minister)

The internationally recognized government in Yemen has successfully declared its ministerial program draft on Monday, preparing it for referral to parliament for approval.

According to official sources, the draft encompasses sections that cover security and defense, fiscal and monetary policies, economy and investment, infrastructure, energy and environment, general administration and good governance, human development, foreign relations, planning and information.

The draft is based on accurate analysis of outstanding challenges and most urgent needs, as well as policies and interventions necessary to cope with all challenges, reorganize and unite the military and security institutions in the face of Houthis, and mobilize resources from donors.

It is worth noting that the cabinet had assigned a ministerial committee, headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, to prepare a draft ministerial program for the newly formed power-sharing government.

On December 18, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi announced a new government as part of his efforts to implement the political annex of the Riyadh Agreement which was signed by the government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

“The new program reflects the government's commitment and determination to start new course of work aimed at restoring the state, ending the Houthi coup and achieving economic stability and recovery,” said Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik at press conference in Aden after the cabinet holding an extraordinary meeting.

“The real criterion of this draft will be the assessment of progress based on achievement and implementation, requiring the government members to work according to different rational mechanisms to effectively tackle the challenges,” he told reporters.

Abdulmalik stressed that “every ministry should assume its full responsibility in implementing the obligations and undertakings stipulated in the government's ministerial program draft.”

The premier emphasized that the government’s vision is focused on recovery, stopping currency devaluation and economic decline and building state institutions. Restoring law and order and upholding principles of accountability are also part of the government’s new scheme.

Abdulmalik called on Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to provide his government with urgent support.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.