Sana’a: The Shia militia that has seized Yemen’s capital announced yesterday it had dissolved parliament and installed a “presidential council” to run the country in the face of a power vacuum.
The Houthi militia said it would set up a national council of 551 members to replace the legislature.
The five-member presidential council will form a transitional government to govern for two years, the Houthis announced in a “constitutional declaration”.
The declaration came after a Wednesday deadline set by the militia for political parties to resolve the crisis passed with no agreement.
After another round of talks late on Thursday attended by UN envoy Jamal Benomar, participants had said negotiations would resume today.
Yesterday, Benomar flew out of the country before the declaration was announced.
Yesterday’s declaration suggested that the Houthis had taken on more powers, including forming the new parliament and control over the military and security forces.
Some political leaders attended the announcement, which took place at the Presidential Palace. Former interior and defence ministers were also there, indicating that the announcement might have had the blessing of some other political factions.
A senior American official said the United States was opposed to the Houthi militia’s creation of a “presidential council” in Yemen, after top US diplomat John Kerry met leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“No, we don’t agree with it, and they didn’t agree with it either,” the official told reporters in Munich, when asked what Washington thought about yesterday’s developments in Yemen.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the Yemeni city of Taiz to reject the Houthi takeover, eyewitnesses said.
Sunni tribal leaders in Marib region of Yemen have urged GCC states not to abandon their country, and to back them in the current crisis.
A spokesman for Marib’s Sunni tribal leaders, Saleh Al Anjaf, was quoted by Alarabia.net as exhorting Yemeni tribes to stand up to the Shia Houthis.
Al Anjaf said what had happened in his country would lead to civil war.
In Qatar, people commented on social networking sites, with one person saying he feared that Iran, which was active in Syria, will now be active in Yemen. “The Shia extension is at our doorstep,” another commentator said.THE PENINSULA & AGENCIES
MUNICH: Gulf Arab States have called for a “stronger” position by the international community on the situation in Yemen, a senior US State Department official said yesterday following meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The meeting between Kerry and ministers from Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also expressed concern about Iran’s influence in Yemen but no arrangements were made to talk to Tehran about it, the official added.
“There was a feeling that the international community needed to take a stronger position, either through the UN or another multilateral organization,” the official added.
REUTERS
