Yemen: Agreement at National Dialogue Conference

Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference has agreed a document on which the new constitution will be based. President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi will reveal details of the rival political, tribal, religious and social groups’ vision for a new political system at the end of the conference.

It is believed to include dividing the country into a number of regions that enjoy semi-autonomy.

Delegates at the National Dialogue Conference agreed that Mr Hadi should remain in office until the new constitution has been approved and general elections held.

The president will head the committee that drafts the new charter.

He was also mandated to reshuffle the cabinet and restructure the consultative upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, to give greater representation to the south, where separatists have been demanding more autonomy, and to Zaidi Shia in the north.

An agreement in principle at a conference still needs to find acceptance among the ordinary people and the many disparate groups seeking a stake in the future of this nation. In the meantime there continue tone many deaths as a result of militant groups seeking to establish their share of the nation.