Yemen’s interim President ‘Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi has appointed Khalid ‘Abd Allah Bahah as the country’s new Minister of Oil and Minerals, as part of a small-scale cabinet reshuffle announced earlier this week. This comes just weeks after a committee, headed by the president, gave final approval for a plan to divide the country into six federal regions – a crucial step in the country’s protracted post-Salih political transition.
Also appointed as part of the shake-up were ‘Abdu Husain al-Tarb, who took over as Interior Minister from the highly unpopular ‘Abd al-Qadir Qahtan, and Major General Jalal al-Ruwaishan, who took over as the head of Yemen’s intelligence agency, the Political Security Office (PSO). Mr Ruwaishan takes charge of the PSO following the sacking of his predecessor Brigadier General Ghalib al-Qamish, one of Yemen’s longest-serving – and, arguably, its strongest and most intimidating – intelligence leaders. (CONTINUED - 1141 WORDS)
