Yemen's unity government sworn in

Yemen's new unity government, formed to try and avert civil war, met for the first time on Saturday, hours after a soldier was killed in continuing violence between supporters and opponents of outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh. State news agency Saba said Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to whom Saleh transferred his powers under a deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbours, chaired the meeting of the newly sworn-in cabinet, which includes members of the opposition.
The government faces a host of challenges including sporadic fighting with anti-Saleh tribesmen, a southern separatist movement, a Shia Muslim rebellion in the north and a regional wing of al Qaeda that has exploited the upheaval to strengthen its foothold in the poor Arabian peninsula country.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia shares US fears that more instability in Yemen could embolden the country's al Qaeda wing - against which Washington has waged a campaign of drone strikes - in a country sitting next to oil shipping routes. Late on Friday, a soldier was killed in fighting between government forces and opponents of Saleh on the streets of the capital Sanaa, the Defence Ministry said.
The violence near government buildings and the compound of Sadeq al-Ahmar, a foe of Saleh who commands significant forces, was the latest challenge to the transition plan after 10 months of bloody anti-Saleh protests. Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party said on Friday it would stop holding rallies after weekly Friday prayers to show its commitment to a political solution, and urged opposition parties to do the same.
Under the transfer plan negotiated by Yemen's wealthy neighbours, the GPC and opposition parties divided up cabinet posts between them and formed the national unity government to steer the country towards a presidential election in February. Yemen has also faced a fuel shortage partly due to repeated attacks on a pipeline feeding its refinery. Traders said on Friday that the country was seeking to buy four cargoes of gasoline in January via a tender amounting to 120,000 tonnes to help deal with the shortages.