A handout picture released by the Yemeni Presidency shows Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi chairing a meeting of pro-government political parties in Sanaa
AFP
Yemen's president is to name a new prime minister and cut a disputed fuel price hike as he bids to head off escalating tension with Shia rebels, an official said Tuesday.
Faced with increased pressure from the Huthi rebels and a deepening political crisis, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi "has agreed to go ahead with the initiative and form a new national unity government," his media adviser Fares Saqqaf told AFP.
The initiative comes after Zaidi Shia rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi on Sunday urged supporters to press on with a campaign in Sanaa to oust the government.
Zaidi armed fighters have been camped around the capital for the past two weeks and held protests almost throughout August to push for the government's resignation, accusing it of corruption.
The rebels' spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, dismissed the initiative as an attempt to "skirt around the demands of the Yemeni people," writing on his Facebook page that the rebels "do not agree to it".
But the rebel leader has yet to officially respond.
Hadi will "assign within a week" a new prime minister to form a "national unity government", according to the text of the proposal published on the official Saba news agency.
The president himself will name the defence, interior, foreign and finance ministers in the cabinet that will also include Huthis and members of the separatist Southern Movement.
And the controversial fuel price hike implemented in July would also be "reviewed" downwards by about 30 percent, while the anticipated government should work to increase minimum wages, according to the initiative.
Saba said the proposal was approved at a meeting of pro-government political parties chaired by Hadi.
