Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik continues to meet with various Yemeni political parties and forces as he leads negotiations to form a new government under the Riyadh Agreement.
Many are optimistic that a new government will be announced by the end of the coming ten days as stipulated by the Agreement.
Abdulmalik met with officials from the General People's Congress (GPC), Southern Transitional Council (STC), Al-Islah Party, Nasserist Unionist People's Organization, Yemeni Socialist Party, and Southern National Coalition.
Southern Movement leader Ahmad al-Saleh, in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, said that he is very optimistic about government formation taking place within the coming 10 days, especially that Saudi Arabia is strongly backing the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement.
According to al-Saleh, the Kingdom has worked to remove obstacles from the way of Yemeni parties.
“According to our reviews and observations of the engagements of the PM and political forces, I believe that there is a possibility to form a government on time—we might need a few extra days if the arrival of the president from the US is delayed,” al-Saleh told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The Riyadh Agreement provides for the formation of a new technocratic government with no more than 24 ministers. It says the cabinet positions must be distributed equally between northerners and southerners.
The selected ministers will be sworn in before the Yemeni president before heading to the interim capital, Aden, where they will launch their program to normalize and manage the Yemeni affairs.
A Saudi committee arrived last week in Aden to oversee the implementation of the military part of the Riyadh Agreement, which provides for the withdrawal of military forces and heavy vehicles from the interim capital.
The Agreement also provides for the separation of pro-government forces and STC forces in Abyan Governorate, which witnessed confrontations between the two parties during the last period.
