Hadi dismantles part of divided army

SANAA - Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Monday made a major military reform of divided army by dismantling the rival forces into new unified forms that aimed to secure a successful political reconciliation the troubled country has already struggling to achieve.

In a republican decree carried by the state Saba news agency, the president downsized the brigades of the Republican Guard by seven brigades, while reduced its rival First Armored Division by five brigades.

He transferred the operational and financial authority of four of the dismissed brigades, three brigades from the Republican Guard and one from the 1st Armored Division, to a newly-formed Presidential Protective Forces.

For the remaining dismissed brigades, President Hadi transferred their operational, financial and control authority to regional commands across the country.

The step is part of a UN-backed power transfer deal that replaced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh with his then deputy Hadi in February this year after a yearlong of deadly street protests against the long-time ruler.

The Republican Guard commanded by elder son of ousted Saleh, while the First Armored Division headed by General Ali Mohsen al- Ahmar, who last year defected and joined mass protests against Saleh after anti-government protesters clashed with forces loyal to the former leader last year.

Restructuring the armed forces remains the focal point of Hadi who seeks to ensure a successful political reconciliation and pave the way for holding a national dialogue that planned for November and aimed at ending disputes between all political forces in order to focus efforts on fighting al-Qaida branch.

On April 6, Hadi issued a republican decree, replacing about 20 military generals, including several relative and loyalists to former President Saleh.

Meanwhile, thousands of Yemeni protesters rallied almost every day in Sanaa and other provinces, calling for the removal of Saleh 's son Ahmed Ali as chief of Yemen's elite Republican Guard. The protesters demanded Ahmed Ali's dismissal as the precondition for them to engage in the national reconciliation.