Yemeni outgoing president rejects Houthi takeover of power

Yemen's outgoing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday denounced the Shiite Houthi group's takeover of power, as the negotiations among political parties came to a deadlock.

In a statement released by al-Jazeera TV, Hadi insisted on his legitimacy and called on the international community to reject the Houthi's unilateral move.

Hadi left his house in the capital Sanaa on Saturday after weeks of house arrest imposed by the Shiite Houthi militants since late January when they seized control of the capital, and arrived in the southern port city of Aden in the afternoon.

He took office in 2012, but submitted the resignation to the parliament on Jan. 22 amid standoff with the Houthi group. Hadi and most of his cabinet members, had since been put under house arrest.

"All actions and declarations made by the Houthi group after Sept. 21, 2014 are without legitimacy," Hadi said in the statement, adding that "I'm committed to the Gulf cooperation Council deal, and call on members of the national dialogue committee to meet in either Taiz or Aden until militia withdraw from Sanaa."

Urging the international community to protect the political transitional process in Yemen, the outgoing president asked the Houthi group to release Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and all cabinet member from house arrest.

Meanwhile, the supreme revolutionary committee led by the Houthi group said in a statement released by the official Saba news agency, saying "Hadi's fleeing to Aden was an planned action which will drag the nation to collapse and services foreign powers."

Yemen, one of the most impoverished countries in the world, has seen unrest since January when Hadi and Bahah submitted resignations after the Houthi group took the presidential palace by force.

The parliament has announced that the emergent session due to vote on Hadi's resignation is delayed indefinitely.

The Houthi group released a "constitutional declaration" early this month, announcing the formation of a presidential committee and national committee to replace the presidency and parliament. However, the Houthi's move was rejected by most of the country's political parties.

As the security situation worsens, more than ten countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, closed their embassies in Sanaa and evacuated the diplomatic staff.

Under the mediation of UN envoy Jamal Benomar, Yemen's political parties resumed talks on Feb. 9 to resolve the crisis. Sources said the parties initially agreed on the formation of a presidential council based on the GCC deal that laid the ground for the political transition in Yemen since 2011, but dispute over the legitimacy of the parliament remains. Endit