Coming cabinet reshuffling is possible, says president

ABU DHABI, 17 Jan, (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said that the cabinet reshuffling was possible. The aim of reshuffling would not be just for change but would be for included in a strategy to implement development programs and to choose proper persons who were able to accomplish such programs, president Saleh said in an interview published on Wednesday in the Arabic daily Al Bayan newspape. He highlighted ties of Yemen with other Gulf Cooperation Council’s countries, welcoming all businessmen especially from the GCC to invest in the country. They will get all facilities and guaranties based on the investment law, he said. Regarding plans for the coming period, president Saleh said that the priorities would be focused on carrying out his electoral platform. He affirmed that there is a strong will to fight corruption by taking certain such as establishment of independent Bidding Authority, issuance of Anti-Corruption Law. Yemen has succeeded in fighting terrorism, president Saleh said. About the current development in the region, president said that Yemen has predicted that the new US strategy in Iraq is doomed to failure.He said that he explained to the American President, George Bush, in a message the mistakes he had done in Iraq. Iraq “is now an open field for settling regional and international accounts”,he said “Iraqis, whether Sunnis, Shiites or Kurds, are capable of keeping their country united.” He considered the Ethiopian military interference in Somalia a legitimate action, and disclosed that his government is now sponsoring a dialogue between the US administration and the Islamic Courts in Somalia. He described as hasty the call of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for early elections. However, he demanded that the Hamas government “be given the opportunity (to rule) since it has been democratically elected.” He said the sitting-in by the Lebanese opposition “won’t solve the problem, it will complicate it.” He held both the opposition and the ruling party in his country responsible for not helping him achieve his wish to stepdown. “The opposition has not readied itself to lead the country, neither has the ruling party believed that I was intending to abandon power,” he told the Dubai-based newspaper. AF/AH SABA