Yemen: Who Will Handle Yemen’s Portfolio after Prince Nayef’s Death?

Death is always sad news, but that wasn't the overall reaction of many Yemenis upon hearing the news of the death of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Prince Nayef was the person in charge of the “Yemen portfolio” after the death of Crown Prince Sultan and he is reported to have handled it with a powerful fist. He is alleged to have moved Al-Qaeda from Saudi Arabia to Yemen and has been quoted in Wikilieaks saying that Yemen is a failed state:

@wikileaks: ‪#KSA‬ Prince Nayef to US Embassy : “Yemen is a failed state that is very, very, extremely dangerous.” http://bit.ly/o3uM3O ‪#Yemen

Genny Hill, associate Fellow at Chatham House who runs the Yemen Forum, pointed out:

@ginnyUKI suspect that Crown Prince Nayef was Ali Mohsin's strongest backer in Riyadh ‪#Yemen

Following are some of the reactions from Yemen.

Atiaf Alwazir tweeted:

@WomanfromYemen: ‪#Saudi‬ Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef died – this will have lots of implications in ‪#Saudi‬ & neighboring ‪#Yemen‬ & ‪#Bahrain‬ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun…

Brooj Alamary added [ar]:

She added:

Amr Badr had a stronger reaction which he tweeted:

Mai Saleh sarcastically noted:

Sam Waddah tweeted:

@SamWaddah: I dun feel happy 4 Nayef's death!I never feel happy 4 ANYONE's death!However, I feel more sad 4 children who die in ‪#Syria‬ than I do 4 Nayef

Ghanem M tweeted:

And finally a parody account for former President Saleh sarcastically referring to the special committee tweeted:

‏@PresidentSalih: ياترى هل ستصرف لنا اللجنه الخاصه بدل سفر علشان نروح نعزي ‎‪#Yemen‬

Prince Nayef is reported to be succeeded by Prince Salman, who will be the new crown prince, and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz will fill his role as minister of interior. Yemenis, however, wonder who will handle the Yemen portfolio and what implications will that have on the country.

Written by Noon Arabia