US to support Yemen's army restructuring

US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein said the US will continue in supporting a restructuring of the Yemeni army. Speaking to Al-Arabiya, he said a US team will return to Yemen by the end of this month to work with the Jordanians in implementing the reconstruction plan. Meanwhile, the ambassador hailed Yemen's national dialogue conference, promised under a Gulf-brokered deal, as a historic chance to defuse all problems of the country. The conference is seen as the country's most important political gathering in 50 years and is intended to pave the way for elections in 2014. Yemen has struggled to restore normality since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was elected in February 2012 following nearly a year of Arab Spring-style protests that forced his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 33 years in power.