SANA'A: Yemen's newly-elected President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi sacked Mahdi Maqula – a key loyalist from the regime of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh – from his post as chief of the country's southern military zone, sources told Bikyamasr.com on Friday Hadi, who officially became Yemen's new president this past week, ordered that Maqula be replaced by Salem Ali, a leading army general from the south of the country. Maqula's opponents accuse him of corruption and sidelining qualified army officers, mainly those belonging to the south. The move came amid increasing public pressure on Hadi to remove loyalists and relatives of Saleh from key posts in the country's military and security agencies. Hundreds of pro-reform Yemenis were rallying Friday in the capital Sana'a for a mass protest to push the new ruler to restructure the national army. Saleh ruled Yemen for 33 years, but faced unprecedented street protests that started in February 2011, demanding his ouster. In November, he signed a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal whereby he agreed to step down in exchange for immunity form prosecution. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ZSPTU Tags: Hadi, Sacking, Saleh, Security Section: Latest News, Yemen