The standoff between Brigadier General Ahmed
Saleh, son of ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi could delay an overhaul of armed forces that
split last year during a mass uprising, worsening disorder.
Restoring security in Yemen is a priority for
the United States and Gulf allies because al Qaeda militants are
entrenched in parts of the country, posing a potential threat to top oil
exporter Saudi Arabia next door and nearby shipping lanes.
“Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh
rejected the president's instructions to hand over Scud missile
formations in the possession of the Republican Guards to the Defence
Ministry,” a presidential palace source told Reuters.
“This has caused a crisis between the two sides.”
A second presidential palace source confirmed
this information and added: “The president was so angry at the rejection
of his orders and threatened to revoke the immunity given to the former
president and expose corruption worth billions of rials in the armed
forces.”
The Republican Guards, the best equipped wing of the Yemeni armed forces, have been seen as crucial to containing al Qaeda.
Hadi, elected in February for a two-year
interim period with a mandate to restructure the military, has been
gradually trying to loosen the Saleh family's grip on the armed forces
in a country where the former president's legacy still looms large.
U.S. INFORMED OF STAND-OFF
Revamping the armed forces, which entails
removing powerful relatives of Saleh from key positions, is a pivotal
part of a U.S.-backed power transfer deal signed in Saudi Arabia that
brought Hadi to power and aims to hold the country together.
The sources said Hadi had discussed the Scud
dispute with senior U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of
State Andrew Shapiro and General James Mattis, chief of the U.S. Central
Command, at a meeting in the capital Sanaa on Monday.
Officials at Ahmed Saleh's office were not
available for comment. But his father's press secretary said the threats
made by Hadi violate the terms of the power transfer deal signed in
Saudi Arabia last year which granted the ex-president immunity from
prosecution for any crimes committed during his rule.
“The comments attributed to President Hadi are
serious and contradict the political settlement accord which was
prepared by Gulf Arab states and backed by U.N. Security Council members
and the European Union,” Ahmed al-Soufi said in a statement.
A leader in Saleh's General People's Congress
party said that it inquired about the comments attributed to Hadi and
were told that they were inaccurate.
The pro-Saleh al-Ayyam newspaper quoted Hadi as
saying that what he meant was that no immunity would be granted to
anyone who carries out any sabotage action in Yemen.
“I did not mean any person in particular and
certainly not the immunity granted by parliament in line with the
political settlement,” the Arabic language daily quoted Hadi as saying.
In April, Hadi removed about 20 top commanders, including a half brother of Saleh and other relatives.
In August, he began chipping away at General
Ahmed's power base by transferring units from the Republican Guards to a
new force under his command or under different regional commands. 
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