Yemeni President and Government Resign
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MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images(SANA’A, Yemen) — Yemen’s president resigned on Thursday under pressure from Shiite rebels, who overtook the presidential palace two days ago.
Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s resignation came after the country’s prime minister and cabinet also stepped down.
According to a senior administration official, the Yemeni Parliament, which has to accept the resignations, was not in session Thursday. The official did say, however, that the parliament was expected to call an emergency session on Friday.
On Tuesday, a Shiite tribal group known as the Houthis surrounded the presidential palace and occupied several major government buildings in the capital of Sana’a.
A day later, the rebels reached a deal with Hadi to resolve the crisis in the capital in exchange for constitutional changes and political power, but there were widespread doubts that the deal would lead to lasting peace.
“We’ve obviously seen the reports, our team is seeking confirmation of all of the reports. We continue to support a peaceful transition,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday in response to the Yemeni government’s resignations.
Yemen has been a key U.S. ally in trying to take down al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group that claimed it ordered the recent Paris attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo. The crisis this week prompted concern from U.S. officials who monitored closely the situation at the U.S. embassy, where 100 Marines stood guard over dozens of Americans inside.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke about the situation in Yemen at a press conference on Thursday, saying that the situation was complicated and that it “changes hourly.”
A senior State Department official said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. embassy in Sana’a “has further reduced its American personnel working in Yemen.” The embassy had already been on ordered departure — meaning fewer personnel were operating out of the embassy — since September 2014.
“While the Embassy remains open and is continuing to operate, we may continue to re-align resources based on the situation on the ground,” the official said. “We will continue to operate as normal, albeit with reduced staff…we are also continuously reassessing the situation on the ground based on our staffing needs.”
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