Cairo: Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has sacked Prime Minister Ahmad Obeid Bin Dagher over failure to handle the war-wracked country’s economic deterioration and referred him to investigation, the official news agency Saba reported Monday night.
Hadi said in a statement, carried by Saba, that Bin Dagher had been dismissed from the post he took over more than two years ago.
The sacking was due to “negligence in the government’s performance in the economic and service fields,” the statement said.
Hadi appointed Maeen Abdul Malek Saeed, an architect by education, as the new prime minister.
Saeed, 42, has served as minister of public works and roads since May 2017 and was a member of the government’s team at UN-sponsored talks held in Geneva and Kuwait for Yemen’s peace, according to Saba.
Hadi blamed the Bin Dagher government for “inability to take real measures to stop economic deterioration in the country, especially the collapse of the local currency”.
Yemen, which has been in the midst of a devastating war for more than three years, has recently seen angry street protests over economic woes and a free fall of the local currency that has sent prices of basic items soaring.
Bin Dagher’s sacking could be followed by a government shake-up in order to better address economic and social challenges in the country, according to observers.
In his first comment on becoming a new prime minister Saeed urged Yemenis in a Facebook post to “join hands to achieve success”.
He takes office as a tropical storm has lashed some Yemeni provinces, causing heavy damage.
Hadi has accused the Bin Dagher of failing to take preparations for Cyclone Laban that this week wreaked havoc on the eastern province of Mahra, which was declared a devastated zone on Monday.
Yemeni army aircraft Tuesday evacuated a large number of families, stranded by flooding from Mahra, news portal Adan Al Ghad reported.
A Saudi–led alliance launched a relief operation for Mahra, the kingdom’s Ambassador to Yemen Mohammad Al Jaber said.
He added King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre started an air and ground operation providing food and shelter to people in Mahra, Al Hayat newspaper reported.
The Saudi Programme for Yemen’s Development and Reconstruction will reopen roads and revamp power stations damaged by the cyclone, added the diplomat.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition fighting Iran-allied Al Houthi militants in Yemen.
