Hadi reclaims stake as president to end Yemen chaos

Protesters shout slogans during a rally in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the southwestern city of Taiz on Tuesday.

AFP/Aden

Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has retracted his resignation after escaping house arrest in the militia-controlled capital, an aide said on Tuesday, staking a claim to lead the country out of crisis.

The embattled leader had tendered his resignation last month after the Shia militia, known as Houthis, seized the presidential palace and besieged his residence in Sanaa.

He made a surprise escape from house arrest on Saturday and resurfaced in Aden, capital of the formerly independent south Yemen, where he has resumed his duties and branded all measures adopted by the Houthis "null and illegitimate".

An aide to Hadi said on Tuesday that the 69-year-old native of southern Yemen had sent a letter withdrawing the resignation to parliament, which had never met to formally accept it.

"I have withdrawn my resignation which I tendered to your esteemed parliament," Hadi wrote in the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP.

Hadi urged lawmakers to cooperate with him "to normalise the security and economic situation in all provinces".

In a move which risks further deepening divisions in Yemen, Hadi also called on government ministers to "head immediately to Aden to convene," the presidential aide said.

Hadi had already led a meeting of governors in Aden on Sunday, calling for a resumption of a political transition process stalled since the Houthis overran Sanaa in September.

But Prime Minister Khalid Bahah, who had tendered his resignation at the same time as Hadi, remains under house arrest in Sanaa along with other ministers and officials.

In an angry riposte, the Houthis urged all foreign countries to avoid dealing with Hadi, who they said would be indicted.

Yemen's Gulf neighbours rejected the Houthis' sidelining of the Western-backed Hadi as a "coup", while the UN Security Council urged the militia to withdraw its forces from government institutions.

On Monday, the Gulf countries urged Yemenis to "stand by the president and support him... in order to end Yemen's dangerous situation caused by Houthis".

Pro-Hadi protests have been held on the streets of several Yemeni cities since the Houthis' takeover of Sanaa.