Houthis to form new government in Yemen

The Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen yesterday announced that they will begin forming a new Yemeni government after political forces failed to meet the three day deadline set by the group to reach an agreement that ends the power vacuum, the Anadolu Agency reported.

In a statement released on behalf of the “revolutionary committees”, the group said it would take national, responsible and non-exclusionary measures to ensure it saves “the country from the current situation and fill the power vacuum”.

The statement called on the Yemeni people to “continue supporting the revolutionary committees to carry this heavy burden and sacred duty”.

Reports revealed that during the last few hours before the deadline ended, the group had been actively seeking to form a presidential council to run the country after the resignation of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his government last month.

However, the efforts appear to have reached a dead end after the deadline ended without a breakthrough being made in the political consultations between the political forces.

In a conference held in the capital Sanaa on Monday, the group’s supporters threatened that unless an agreement was reached, they would “authorise the revolutionary committees to take immediate action to rearrange the state’s authorities and the transitional phase”.

Houthi gunmen controlled key government institutions in Sanaa in September last year and extended their control to the northern and western provinces.

Yemeni officials and Arab and Western countries accuse Iran of backing the Shia group with money and weapons. A charge Tehran denies.