Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia forced Yemeni president to resign

Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi was forced to step down under Saudi pressure, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Saudi and Yemeni officials. Hadi is now under house arrest in Riyadh, the newspaper reported.

The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia pressured Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to step down earlier this month (April).

The report, published on Sunday, April 17, states that Saudi authorities have confined Hadi to his home in Riyadh and restricted his communications.

Hadi announced on April 7 that he had resigned and handed over his duties to the new Yemeni Leadership Council amid a fragile ceasefire in his country.

The ceasefire, brokered by the United Nations at the start of Ramadan between forces of Hadi's recognized government and Houthi militias, has raised hopes for an end to Yemen's multi-year civil war.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Yemeni and Saudi officials, said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has written to the Yemeni president demanding that he hand over power to a council consisting of eight representatives from various Yemeni groups.

The officials said that some Saudi officials had threatened to release documents related to what they called “Hadi’s corruption” if they did not.

A Saudi official said Hadi has been confined to his home in Riyadh and denied access to a telephone since leaving office.

But another Saudi official says Hadi was encouraged to resign because various Yemeni factions have lost confidence in his ability to lead the Middle Eastern country.

Saudi Arabia welcomed Hadi's resignation and promised $3 billion in aid to its war-torn neighbor.

Hadi's internationally recognized government has been embroiled in a seven-year conflict with the Islamic Republic-backed Houthi militia. Although a Saudi-led coalition has been providing military support to Hadi's government since 2015, the Houthis still control Sanaa and much of the north of the country.

After the fall of Sanaa and the Houthis' advance towards the southern port of Aden, Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia and settled there.

Yemen's civil war has directly and indirectly killed hundreds of thousands of people and plunged the country into what the United Nations calls the worst humanitarian crisis.

The transfer of power to the Yemeni leadership council followed talks in Riyadh that were attended by anti-Houthi factions. The Houthis have imposed sanctions and said they are not willing to participate in talks held in the territory of their “enemy.”

The Houthis have called Hadi's resignation a "desperate attempt to reorganize the ranks of mercenaries" participating in the Yemeni war and have said that peace will only be achieved when foreign forces leave Yemen.

Source: DW