AFP/ Sanaa
The Gulf Cooperation Council reiterated its support for beleaguered Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after its chief met him on Wednesday, just days after he escaped house arrest in Sanaa and fled south.
GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani, leading a delegation of Gulf ambassadors, met Hadi at the republican palace in the port city of Aden, a presidential aide said.
Zayani "stressed the support of GCC members for... the Yemeni president," said a statement issued by the Riyadh-based bloc, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
After the meeting, Zayani told reporters the leaders of Gulf countries are "very happy about Hadi's exit from Sanaa and his arrival safely in Aden."
The GCC has already voiced its support for Hadi in his dispute with the Shiite Huthi militia that overran Sanaa in September.
Under effective house arrest, Hadi escaped Saturday and resurfaced in Aden, where he resumed his duties and retracted a resignation he offered last month.
Hadi has branded all measures adopted by the Huthis, including the creation of a presidential council, as "null and illegitimate."
Yemen's GCC neighbours rejected as a coup the Huthis' sidelining Western-backed Hadi, and the UN Security Council urged the militia to withdraw its forces from government institutions.
On Monday, the GCC urged Yemenis to "stand by the president and support him... in order to end Yemen's dangerous situation caused by Huthis".
It brokered a UN-backed peace deal that ended a year of deadly protests that eased longtime president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in February 2012 and brought Hadi to office.
Zayani said the GCC will keep up its efforts "to enhance security and stability in Yemen, and to support the brotherly Yemeni people to overcome the difficult situation it endures."
