BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen ordered a sweeping restructuring of the country’s divided and weak military on Wednesday, moving to replace or sideline commanders who were loyal to his predecessor and whose competing agendas had fed the country’s persistent insecurity.
Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto Agency
A Yemeni soldier at a checkpoint in Sana, Yemen, on Thursday.
The decrees issued by the president centralized the command of the military under five branches, officials said. Most significant, they said, the president’s edict would result in the dismantling of the powerful Republican Guard, a unit led by a rival of Mr. Hadi’s who had defied the president’s orders.
Overhauling the military was seen as a crucial step in Yemen’s delicate transition after the autocratic rule of Mr. Hadi’s predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who held power for more than three decades. Months of street protests against Mr. Saleh’s rule last year led to a political crisis while creating a security vacuum that allowed groups linked to Al Qaeda to seize territory, especially in the south of the country.
After Mr. Saleh agreed to step down in November 2011 in exchange for immunity and as part of a deal brokered by Persian Gulf states and backed by the United States, he continued to exert his influence through relatives who held senior government posts, angering Yemenis who opposed the immunity deal and complicating the already fragile transition.
The decrees that Mr. Hadi issued on Wednesday seemed aimed in part at severing Mr. Saleh’s ties. Most directly, the president replaced a nephew of Mr. Saleh’s, Yahya Saleh, the head of the central security forces as well as of an American-trained counterterrorism unit, according to the state news agency.
The reshuffle also aimed to break up the Republican Guard and the Special Forces, led by Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ali Saleh, former President Saleh’s son, distributing brigades among the new military branches and regional commands.
It was not immediately clear what would become of General Saleh, whose soldiers had clashed with the government in recent months. Last week, more than 90 Republican Guard soldiers were sentenced to prison for attacking a defense facility in Sana in August, in retaliation for an attempt by Mr. Hadi to transfer Republican Guard brigades away from General Saleh’s control.
Najeeb Ghallab, a political analyst in Yemen, said the decrees could potentially unify the military and turn it into a force suited to respond to Yemen’s multiple security threats. If the new military was used as a tool for politics — as it has often been in the past — the effort by Mr. Hadi would fail.
“It should not be used for settling accounts,” Mr. Ghallab said. “If the restructuring is used for settling accounts, this may lead to retaliatory acts that will affect the whole political settlement.”
Yemeni Leader, Hadi, Shakes Up a Divided Military
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Yemeni Leader, Hadi, Shakes Up a Divided Military
