SANAA: Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi resigned on Thursday, days after Houthi rebels battled
their way into his presidential palace, plunging the unstable
Arab country deeper into chaos and depriving Washington of a key
ally against al Qaeda.
Hadi, a former general, blamed the Houthis' control of Sanaa
for impeding his two-year-long attempt to steer Yemen toward
stability after years of secessionist and tribal unrest,
deepening poverty and U.S. drone strikes on Islamist militants.
The announcement startled the Arabian Peninsula country of
25 million, where the Iran-backed Houthis emerged as the
dominant faction by seizing the capital Sanaa in September and
dictating terms to a humiliated Hadi.
"This is a coup," said Ahmed al-Fatesh, a hotel security
supervisor, suggesting Hadi had been bullied from office. "The
Houthis took power by force. Hadi is a legitimate president and
was elected by more than 6 million Yemenis. Hadi tried to bring
the political forces together."
In the first sign that the turmoil would affect U.S.
operations in Yemen, Washington said it had pulled out more
staff from its embassy in Sana due to the worsening security
situation.
"While the Embassy remains open and is continuing to
operate, we may continue to re-align resources based on the
situation on the ground," a senior State Department Official
told Reuters.
U.S. authorities have made clear they want to avoid shutting
the compound, which is important for counterterrorism
cooperation with Yemeni security forces in the fight against a
powerful al Qaeda branch based in the country.
The Houthi movement said it had no official reaction as yet
to Hadi's resignation, but urged Yemenis to stage mass rallies
to show their support on Friday afternoon.
A statement urged the army to "uphold" its responsibilities
and called on Houthi fighters to be on alert.
Hadi, who has led a United Nations-mandated bid to make
political reforms and bury the autocracy and graft of the past,
stood down shortly after Prime Minister Khaled Bahah had offered
his government's resignation, saying it did not want to be
dragged into "an unconstructive political maze".
This was a reference to a standoff between Hadi and the
Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement which this week has been holding
the president a virtual prisoner in his official residence.
"We apologise to you personally and to the honourable
chamber and to the Yemeni people after we reached a dead end," a
government spokesman quoted Hadi's resignation letter as saying.
It was addressed to the speaker of parliament, who becomes
interim head of state under the Yemeni constitution.
Sultan al-Atwani, one of Hadi's advisors, told Reuters he
had resigned after pressure and threats from the Houthis. He
also said parliament would meet on Saturday to decide whether to
accept or reject it.
The official Saba news agency said there would be an
emergency meeting of parliament on Sunday.
Late on Thursday, Houthi fighters took up positions around
the parliament building, residents say.
In the southern city of Aden, unidentified gunmen attacked
two military armoured vehicles in the early hours of Friday, two
local officials told Reuters. Three explosions were heard in
Aden during the attack, which was followed by the clashes, said
one of the officials, who declined to be identified.
The departure of Hadi, a southerner, has caused anger in
Aden, a key port city where officials reacted by telling
security officers to only obey orders issued in Aden, an
implicit snub to institutions in the north, where Sanaa is.
Earlier in the week, Aden closed its ports briefly in
protest against Houthi militia attacks on state institutions in
Sanaa, calling them an "aggressive coup on the president
personally and on the political process as a whole".
Hadi's decision marked an abrupt turnaround from Wednesday,
when he said he was ready to accept Houthi demands for a bigger
stake in constitutional and political arrangements.
REGIONAL STRUGGLE
That announcement had appeared to ease differences between
him and the Houthis, whose rise to power places
predominantly-Sunni Yemen within the wider sectarian struggle
fought by proxies of Saudi Arabia and Iran in parts of the
Middle East.
The Houthis' defeat of the presidential guards had already
added to disarray in a country where the United States is also
carrying out drone strikes against one of the most powerful
branches of al Qaeda.
The rebels' rise has resulted in a shift in Yemen's complex
tribal, religious and regional allegiances.
Suspecting Iranian complicity, the Sunni Muslim authorities
in Riyadh cut most of their financial aid to Yemen after the
Houthis' takeover of the capital.
In central Yemen, local tribesmen said they were pushing
back Houthi fighters in Marib province, which produces half of
Yemen's oil and more than half of its electricity.
The local branch of al Qaeda has responded to the Houthis'
ascent by attacking their forces as well as state, military and
intelligence targets.
As Zaydis, a Shi'ite Muslim sect, the Houthis oppose the
hardline Sunni Islamists of al Qaeda. However, the Houthis'
assaults on the militants risk raising sectarian feelings in
Yemen.
Before Hadi quit, clusters of Houthi fighters were dotted
around the perimeter of the presidential palace on Thursday. At
Hadi's residence, sentry points normally manned by presidential
guards were empty, while a group of Houthis with an army vehicle
were parked at a main entrance.
