SANA, Yemen — The Yemeni leader who last month resigned the presidency and fled to the country’s south said Saturday that all actions taken since Shiite rebels stormed the capital, Sana, in September are illegitimate, hinting that he will seek to reclaim his power and office.
The move exacerbates worries over a regional breakup and further instability in the volatile country, the Arab world’s poorest and home to a powerful al-Qaeda affiliate.
The rebels, known as Houthis, control Sana and several major cities, while the south is largely free from their rule and officials there have rejected the rebel takeover amid talk of a potential secession.
In a statement signed as “president of the republic” from the southern port city of Aden, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for a national dialogue there or in the city of Taiz, another area not under Houthi control, and demanded the rebels leave Sana.
He said he supports the power transfer plan backed by Gulf countries after Yemen’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, which envisaged him taking office from predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh until elections. He also called on military and security forces to support him, and demanded the Houthis release members of his former Cabinet who are still under house arrest in Sana.
An official from Hadi’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists, said Hadi had resigned during an “unnatural situation” while he was under house arrest.
He left Sana on Saturday after the rebels who had surrounded his home for several weeks released him under international and local pressure, aides close to him said, although the rebels said later in a statement that he had made a furtive escape.
Earlier, Hadi’s aides said he had planned to leave the country for medical care.
Witnesses said the Houthis and others in the area later ransacked Hadi’s house and people were seen removing automatic rifles from the building. The spokesman for Yemen’s embassy in Washington, Mohammed Albasha, said on Twitter that Hadi and his family had arrived safely in Aden but that his press secretary had been detained.
Jamal Benomar, the U.N. envoy to Yemen, said Friday that rival factions, including the Houthis, had agreed on a new legislative body consisting of former and new lawmakers to serve during the country’s upcoming transition period, although those prospects seemed bleak after Hadi’s defiant comments.
A coalition of Yemeni parties also voiced objections to the plan, describing it as an insufficient half-solution. Later Saturday, the Nasserite block demanded Hadi be returned to power.
The ongoing political crisis casts doubts on the United States’ ability to continue its counterterrorism operations in Yemen.
