The ousted president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, can no longer offer anything and is trying to market himself and his son Ahmed Ali as an alternative to the Iran-backed Houthis, said Nobel Peace laureate Tawakkol Karman. 

This came in an article posted on her official Facebook page as a comment on Saleh’s preparations underway to mobilize his supporters in the militia-held capital Sana’a on the anniversary of the establishment of the previous ruling party headed by Saleh himself next Thursday.

But Saleh’s big problem lies in his inability to get rid of the Houthi militia and purge the state institutions and areas of its influence, Karman wrote.

She added that Saleh, overthrown in a popular uprising in 2011, may have a greater intelligence and media presence than Houthis, but in militarily terms the latter are definitely much bigger. 

After handing over the state's weapons to them and paving the way for seizing institutions, camps and cities, the most the ousted president can do now is to hold an empty speech festival attended by tens of thousands of people for no national or moral purpose, the Nobel laureate continued. 

She revealed that Saleh has nothing to offer but to ask the coalition and the forces supporting the legitimacy, including Islah Party, popular resistance and the national army, to take over the task of getting rid of the Houthis so that he could restore his lost influence and power. 

Karman concluded her article by stating that Saleh is someone who nobody could trust or depend on because of his bad track record in breaching agreements and commitments.