Skip to main content

Yemen president dismisses powerful security head

In a Cabinet reshuffle, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued a presidential decree that replaced the ministers of interior, oil and most importantly, the head of Yemen’s Political Security Office.
Defendants look out from their holding cell at the court room of a state security court of appeals in Sanaa December 31, 2013. They are among a group of ten suspects charged with involvement in a May 2012 suicide attack on a military parade rehearsal that left 86 police troopers dead and 171 others injured in Sanaa. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST) - RTX16XWS

On March 8, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi conducted a security and government reshuffle targeting certain important ministries and security agencies. The decree sacked the unpopular minister of interior, appointed a new minister of oil, but most importantly, got rid of Yemen’s strongest and oldest intelligence leader. Ghaleb al-Qamish, who for more than three decades was in charge of Yemen’s intelligence agency — the Political Security Office (PSO), and before it the National Security Agency — woke up on March 8 no longer the most renowned intelligence officer of Yemen.

The sacking of Qamish and appointment of a younger officer from National Security as his replacement was one of president Hadi’s strongest and most welcomed presidential decrees since he came to power in 2011. Qamish, a descendant of one of Yemen’s strongest tribes, was Yemen’s scariest man and had been in charge of destroying every political movement, party, individual or organization that challenged former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s power. 

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.