Yemen PM-Designate Says New Unity Government Formed
Yemen's Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa said on Wednesday he had finalized his new unity government and would disclose the line-up later in the day.
"The government has been formed and we will announce it formally this evening," Basindawa told Agence France Presse in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
"We have agreed on all the names," he added.
Half of the new cabinet ministers will be from the opposition, while loyalists of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh will make up the other half, a condition stipulated in the Gulf brokered power-transfer deal signed by Saleh on November 23.
Yemen's opposition Common Forum spokesman Mohammed Qahtan told AFP last week that Saleh loyalists would keep the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, oil, telecommunications and civil services.
He said the opposition meanwhile would head the ministries of interior, finance, cooperation, information and human rights.
The newly formed transitional cabinet will carry-out government duties for three months, after which elections will be held and Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi will formally take over the presidency.
The Gulf Cooperation Council plan, which is backed by the United Nations, forced Saleh to hand over power to Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution for him and his family.
The GCC deal also allows Saleh to remain honorary president until Hadi's election.
Source: Agence France Presse
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