Yemen president cedes powers to council as ceasefire holds
Yemen's president said Thursday he is handing his powers to a new leadership council, in a major shake-up in the coalition battling Huthi rebels as a fragile ceasefire takes hold.
But Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam dismissed the move as "a desperate attempt to rearrange the ranks of the mercenaries" fighting in Yemen, and said peace would only come once foreign forces leave.
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi made the announcement in a televised statement on the final day of Yemen talks held in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
"I irreversibly delegate to this presidential leadership council my full powers," he said.
Saudi Arabia said it welcomed Hadi's announcement and pledged $3 billion in aid and support for its war-torn neighbour, some of it to be paid by the United Arab Emirates.
Hadi's internationally recognised government has been locked in conflict with the Iran-backed Huthis, who control the capital Sanaa and most of the north despite a Saudi-led military intervention launched in 2015.
Hadi has been based in Saudi Arabia since fleeing to the kingdom that year as rebel forces closed in on his last redoubt, the southern port city of Aden.
A United Nations-brokered truce that took effect last Saturday -- the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- has offered a glimmer of hope in the conflict which has triggered what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The truce came as discussions on Yemen were unfolding in Riyadh without the participation of the Huthis, who refused to attend talks on "enemy" territory.
The talks concluded Thursday with Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed calling on the new leadership council "to start negotiations with the Huthis under the supervision of the United Nations in order to reach a final and comprehensive political solution".
- 'Something big' -
Some analysts had cast doubt on what the negotiations could achieve in the absence of the Huthis, but Thursday's news may help the sometimes fractious coalition battling the rebels to speak with one voice in any future peace negotiations.
"The status quo was going nowhere," Elisabeth Kendall, a researcher at Oxford University, told AFP.
"Something big needed to change to get the warring parties on track to a political process. This transfer of presidential powers could be it."
Hadi also announced he had sacked Vice President Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar.
The new council will consist of eight members and be led by Rashad al-Alimi, a former interior minister and adviser to Hadi.
Hadi said it would be tasked with "negotiating with the Huthis for a permanent ceasefire".
He said it should also sit down for talks "to reach a final and comprehensive political solution, that includes a transitional phase".
- A 'new page'? -
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, met the council and said he hoped for a "new page" to turn in Yemen, footage aired by state media showed.
The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Nayef al-Hajraf, also welcomed Hadi's announcement, pledging the bloc's support for the new council.
France said it welcomed the creation of the council as "an important step towards restoring a state that serves all Yemenis".
The European Union said the move could "create further momentum" for peace efforts.
Yemen's 30 million people are in dire need of assistance.
A UN donors' conference this month raised less than a third of its $4.27 billion target, prompting dark warnings for a country where 80 percent of the population depends on aid.
As part of the truce, the Saudi-led coalition agreed to ease its longstanding air and sea blockade to allow commercial flights into the capital Sanaa, and fuel and more food shipments into the aid lifeline port of Hodeida. Both cities are held by the Huthis.
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said Wednesday that there had been a "significant reduction of violence" since the truce took effect but both sides have accused each other of minor "breaches" of the ceasefire.
The brutal war has killed hundreds of thousands and left millions on the brink of famine in Yemen, long the Arab world's poorest country.
