SANAA: The political party of Yemen’s former pre­s­ident Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December by his erstwhile Houthi rebel allies, on Sunday named his replacement.

The General People’s Con­g­ress, a key player in Yemeni politics for decades, elected former deputy premier Sadiq Amin Aburas by consensus at a meeting of its general committee, it said in a statement.

It made no mention of the Houthis, but said it would continue to “reject and resist aggression and siege” aga­inst Yemen, a reference to a military campaign being waged since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.

Aburas, 65, is seen as having been close to Saleh, the long-time Yemeni strongman killed by Houthi gunmen on Dec 4 after their alliance collapsed.

Saleh held power in the Arabian Peninsula country for three decades before being ousted in 2012 following mass protests.

He later allied with his former enemies, the Iran-backed Houthis, to seize the capital in 2014 from the internationally backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

That prompted Iran’s regi­onal arch-rival Saudi Arabia to lead an intervention against the alliance the following year.

In late 2017, the Saleh-Ho­u­thi alliance fell apart after Saleh offered to “turn the page” with Riyadh in return for a ceasefire and the lifting of a crippling blockade.

That sparked fighting in the streets of Sanaa, and Saleh was gunned down as he tried to flee.

The GPC said Aburas would lead it until its next general assembly, a date for which could not yet be set “because of the current difficulties”. Aburas also heads the party’s five-member exe­c­utive committee.

The GPC said it was still open to dialogue and “nati­onal reconciliation”.

More than 8,750 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen, according to the World Health Organisation.

The country also faces what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018