SANAA: Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi offered to resign on Thursday amid a standoff with a powerful Shia militia in control of the capital, throwing his country deeper into political turmoil.

Presidential adviser Sultan al-Atwani and several other aides confirmed that Mr Hadi had quit, but a senior official said Yemen’s parliament had rejected his resignation.

“Parliament... refused to accept the president’s resignation and decided to call an extraordinary session for Friday morning,” the official said.

Yemeni Prime Minister Khalid Bahah also resigned, saying he did not want to be part of the collapse of the country.

President Hadi offers to quit but parliament rejects his resignation

The shock announcements came after the militia, known as Huthis, tightened their grip on Sanaa this week after seizing almost full control of the capital in September.

They had maintained fighters around key buildings on Thursday and continued holding a top presidential aide they kidnapped on Saturday, despite a deal to end what authorities called a coup attempt.

The potential fall of Mr Hadi’s Western-backed government will raise serious concerns of strategically important but impoverished Yemen collapsing into complete chaos.

After heavy fighting between government forces and the Huthis this week that killed at least 35 people, the UN Security Council and Yemen’s Gulf neighbours had all voiced support for Mr Hadi’s continued rule.

The Huthis swept into Sanaa last year from their stronghold in the far north, demanding a greater say in the country’s affairs, and refused to abandon the capital despite a UN-negotiated deal.

The situation escalated on Saturday when the militiamen seized top presidential aide Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution, which the Huthis oppose because it would divide Yemen into six federal regions.

The militiamen say it would split the country into rich and poor areas.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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