Reuters, Sanaa :
Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement today dissolved parliament and said a new interim assembly would be formed, a move that could ease a power struggle that forced the president to step down last month.
The new assembly will elect a five-member interim presidential council to manage the country’s affairs in a transitional period of up to two years, according to a televised statement.
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 has the blessing of some other political factions.
Yemen has been in political limbo since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the government of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned after the Houthis seized the presidential palace and confined the head of state to his residence in a struggle to tighten control.
The Houthis, who became power brokers when they overran Sanaa in September, had been holding talks with main political factions trying to agree on a way out of the stand-off.
The movement, which is backed by Iran, had set a Wednesday deadline for political factions to agree a way out of the crisis, otherwise, the group said, it would impose its own solution.
Yemen’s stability is particularly important to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter. The Arabian Peninsula country is also fighting one of the most formidable branches of Al Qaeda with the help of US drone strikes. Meanwhile, thousands of people have come out to march in protests against Yemen’s Shia Houthi group’s decision to dissolve parliament and create a “presidential council” to fill a power vacuum.
Protesters rallied in Taiz and the capital Sanaa on Saturday after Houthi’s announced the formation of a “security commission”, including former ministers, a day after its takeover of parliament as part of a coup.
There were demonstrations in Hudaida, Taiz, Dhamer, Ibb and Aden as well as Sanaa.
The Houthi declaration was followed by an explosion outside the Houthi-controlled presidential palace in Sanaa that wounded a policeman and a civilian, witnesses said.
There were also reports that Houthis fired into the air to disperse protesters at a Sanaa university who had come out to demonstrate. Six people were arrested, witnesses said.
On Friday, the Houthis’ takeover of power drew a rebuke from Washington, the United Nations and neighbouring Gulf states.
The Shia group, which has controlled Sanaa since September last year, said it would set up a 551-member national council to replace parliament in the violence-wracked country, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. The Houthis said the defence and interior ministers in the government of outgoing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi were among the 18 members of the security commission.
A five-member presidential council will form a transitional government for two years, the Houthis announced in a “constitutional declaration” which also mentioned a “revolutionary council to defend the nation”.
Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Aden, said the announcement would have ramifications throughout the region.
“There are huge regional implications,” he said.
“The Houthis have very good ties with Iran and have allegedly been receiving both material and political backing from Iran.”
The move threatens to further split an already divided Yemen, Elshayyal said.
“Popularly speaking the Houthis are a Shia minority, and there is a lot of opposition to them from the Sunni majority,” he said.
“Politically speaking you have regions like Aden that have said they reject the Houthi takeover and will not accept orders from Sanaa. Some have called for like-minded governorates to come together and discuss the situation.
“This is an opportunity for them to advance their cause and increase calls for separation.”
Aden, Shabwa, Hadramount and Maarib are all opposed to the Houthi’s control of Sanaa.
Yemen’s south accounts for 70 percent of the country’s production and southern regions have been safeguarding against a Houthi advance into the area, our correspondent added.
Regions such as Bab, Taiz, Maarib and Almandab could all be impacted by the advancement of the Houthi group.
Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement today dissolved parliament and said a new interim assembly would be formed, a move that could ease a power struggle that forced the president to step down last month.
The new assembly will elect a five-member interim presidential council to manage the country’s affairs in a transitional period of up to two years, according to a televised statement.
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 has the blessing of some other political factions.
Yemen has been in political limbo since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the government of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned after the Houthis seized the presidential palace and confined the head of state to his residence in a struggle to tighten control.
The Houthis, who became power brokers when they overran Sanaa in September, had been holding talks with main political factions trying to agree on a way out of the stand-off.
The movement, which is backed by Iran, had set a Wednesday deadline for political factions to agree a way out of the crisis, otherwise, the group said, it would impose its own solution.
Yemen’s stability is particularly important to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter. The Arabian Peninsula country is also fighting one of the most formidable branches of Al Qaeda with the help of US drone strikes. Meanwhile, thousands of people have come out to march in protests against Yemen’s Shia Houthi group’s decision to dissolve parliament and create a “presidential council” to fill a power vacuum.
Protesters rallied in Taiz and the capital Sanaa on Saturday after Houthi’s announced the formation of a “security commission”, including former ministers, a day after its takeover of parliament as part of a coup.
There were demonstrations in Hudaida, Taiz, Dhamer, Ibb and Aden as well as Sanaa.
The Houthi declaration was followed by an explosion outside the Houthi-controlled presidential palace in Sanaa that wounded a policeman and a civilian, witnesses said.
There were also reports that Houthis fired into the air to disperse protesters at a Sanaa university who had come out to demonstrate. Six people were arrested, witnesses said.
On Friday, the Houthis’ takeover of power drew a rebuke from Washington, the United Nations and neighbouring Gulf states.
The Shia group, which has controlled Sanaa since September last year, said it would set up a 551-member national council to replace parliament in the violence-wracked country, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. The Houthis said the defence and interior ministers in the government of outgoing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi were among the 18 members of the security commission.
A five-member presidential council will form a transitional government for two years, the Houthis announced in a “constitutional declaration” which also mentioned a “revolutionary council to defend the nation”.
Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Aden, said the announcement would have ramifications throughout the region.
“There are huge regional implications,” he said.
“The Houthis have very good ties with Iran and have allegedly been receiving both material and political backing from Iran.”
The move threatens to further split an already divided Yemen, Elshayyal said.
“Popularly speaking the Houthis are a Shia minority, and there is a lot of opposition to them from the Sunni majority,” he said.
“Politically speaking you have regions like Aden that have said they reject the Houthi takeover and will not accept orders from Sanaa. Some have called for like-minded governorates to come together and discuss the situation.
“This is an opportunity for them to advance their cause and increase calls for separation.”
Aden, Shabwa, Hadramount and Maarib are all opposed to the Houthi’s control of Sanaa.
Yemen’s south accounts for 70 percent of the country’s production and southern regions have been safeguarding against a Houthi advance into the area, our correspondent added.
Regions such as Bab, Taiz, Maarib and Almandab could all be impacted by the advancement of the Houthi group.
