Yemen's presidential council appoints 4 ministers

Aden (Yemen), July 29 (IANS) Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) has appointed four Ministers, including a war-worn veteran who will head the Saudi-backed Yemeni government's Defence Ministry.Mohsen Mohammed Hussein al-Daeri, who has led several military campaigns against the Houthi rebel militia in the country's northern provinces and had been injured during the rebels' years of offensive against the oil-rich province of Marib, will lead the Defence Ministry, said a statement released by the state-run Saba news agency on Thursday.The PLC, which is currently based in the port city of Aden in southern Yemen, also appoints Said Suliman Barakat al-Shamasi as Oil Minister, Manea Saleh as Electricity Minister, and Salim Mohammed as Public Works Minister, according to the statement.Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa, Xinhua news agency reported.The war has killed thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the poor Arab country to the brink of starvation.
--IANS int/khz/

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