Will Yemen's newly-formed presidential council succeed in ending years-long war?

ADEN, Yemen, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi announced Thursday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that he has handed over all his powers to the newly-formed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) that will succeed him in running the government and holding peace talks with the Houthis.

While favorably viewing the political reshuffle, along with the ongoing two-month ceasefire, as a new hope of ending the country's seven-year civil war, political analysts believe that there is still a long way to go before achieving lasting peace in the war-torn country.

MAJOR SHAKE-UP IN ANTI-HOUTHI CAMP

Hours after Hadi announced the transfer of power, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud met with members of the council in Riyadh, during which the crown prince pledged billions of dollars in aid to Yemen. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Egypt, and the Arab League also welcomed the establishment of PLC on Tuesday.

The council of eight members is headed by Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi, an advisor to Hadi and former interior minister under the late President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Al-Alimi is known for close ties with various factions in Yemen as well as with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Other members include Aidarous Zubaidi, the head of the Southern Transitional Council, Sheikh Sultan Al-Aradah, the governor of the oil-rich Marib Province, and Tariq Saleh, former president Saleh's nephew.

Analysts said that the "anti-Houthi" camp's major political shake-up was conducted following the will of Saudi Arabia and the Arab coalition it leads in the civil war of Yemen.

"It's perfectly understandable that Saudi Arabia's strong desire and political conviction stand behind reshuffling Yemen's presidential office," Mohamed Jawas, a political observer based in Aden, told Xinhua.

Hadi, aged 76 and living in extended exile and rare public appearances, has been struggling to lead a camp riddled with internal rivalries and divisions.

He served as the vice president in the Saleh era for 18 years. In 2012, he was elected to lead the country after Saleh was overthrown by a popular uprising. In 2014, the Houthi militia captured the capital Sanaa and large swathes of Yemen, forcing him out of Yemen to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia.

"The countries involved in Yemen's crisis think that Hadi is hindering the achievement of peace, so they decided to put him aside," Jawas noted.

Forming a more representative PLC is a key consensus reached during the Yemeni peace consultations held in late March in Riyadh.

The talks, backed by the United Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council, gathered scores of Yemeni political, tribal, and religious leaders, activists, economists, and leaders of non-governmental organizations.

"The participants came up with recommendations regarding the ceding of powers of President Hadi and appointing two deputies with full powers or forming a presidential council," Ahmed Al-Saleh, a political official from southern Yemen who attended the consultations, told Xinhua.

He noted that during the talks, the leaders of Yemen's political factions decided to push Hadi aside as "he failed to lead the state institutions properly and the country's political system cracked with corruption during his reign."

BUMPY ROAD AHEAD

The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV hailed the transfer of power as an important step for Yemenis to move forward, adding that the PLC has representatives across factions of Yemen, which implies broader consensus.

But analysts have cautioned that the road to achieving lasting peace in Yemen is still a long and strenuous one.

Speaking of the ceasefire and government reshuffle, Mahmoud Amer, a Yemeni political writer said "what really matters is whether these positive factors can really translate into lasting peace across Yemen."

Amer noted that the PLC is very "anti-Houthi" as it comprises some of the most steadfast Houthi opponents.

"Given the members of the council were handpicked by the coalition, it reveals the fact that there has not been a fundamental shift in the coalition's hostility toward the Houthis," Amer said.

Moreover, the truce lacked effective monitoring mechanisms despite Saudi Arabia and Iran having expressed support, so the sporadic clashes may quickly spiral into a full-blown conflict, Amer noted.

Since April 2, the Yemeni government and the Houthis have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the ceasefire.

Clashes between the two sides erupted in the government-held Marib province almost on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the planned reopening of Sanaa international airport, as mentioned in the ceasefire agreement, has yet to be implemented.

Mohamed Al-Ahmadi, a political expert, said though the transition of power may bring the political changes that Yemenis need, it has set up a dangerous precedent of replacing a legitimate head of state without a transparent and due procedure.

"It is a new political system established away from the aspirations of Yemen's people and has no relation to the current Yemeni constitution," Al-Ahmadi said, adding it could lead the country to an "unknown future."

The Houthi group was also quick to dismiss the decision, calling it a farce and a "desperate attempt to restructure the ranks of mercenaries to push them towards further escalation."

"Yemen's present and future are decided inside Yemen, and any activity beyond its borders is a skit and entertainment game played by the countries of aggression," Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said in a tweet.

Amer said the key to solving Yemen's problems lies in whether the Houthis can gain a legitimate place on Yemen's political stage.

He noted the Saudi-Iranian rivalries still have an important influence on Yemen, and although Saudi Arabia and Iran have engaged in a series of contacts and negotiations over the past year, there is little hope of an imminent breakthrough in bilateral relations.

In this context, it is hard for Saudi Arabia to be truly comfortable with the Houthis. "Saudi Arabia is likely to remain hostile to the Houthis. It is equally likely that the Houthis will launch a new round of attacks after the cease-fire period," the analyst said.