Yemen government resigns as prime minister warns of ‘abyss … with no law’

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/22/yemen-government-resigns-khaled-bahah-shia

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Yemeni officials say the president has resigned under pressure from Shia rebels who seized the capital in September and have confined the embattled leader to his home for the past two days.

Presidential officials said Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned after being pressured to make concessions to the rebels, known as Houthis.

He had earlier pledged political concessions in return for the rebels withdrawing from his house and the nearby presidential palace, but Houthi fighters remained deployed around both buildings throughout the day.

Military officials close to the president, who like the other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, said Hadi resigned after the Houthis pressured him to give a televised speech to calm the streets.

Earlier, a spokesman for Yemen’s government said that the cabinet had also submitted its resignation. Rageh Badi said the government, led by Khaled Bahah, its prime minister, had handed its resignation to Hadi on Thursday.

Bahah’s government was formed in November as part of a peace deal brokered by the UN after the Houthis took over the capital.

Bahah posted his resignation on his official Facebook page, saying he had held office in “very complicated circumstances”. He said he had resigned to “avoid being dragged into an abyss of unconstructive policies based on no law”. He said: “We don’t want to be a party to what is happening or will happen.”