Houthis set Yemen solution deadline


(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Houthi militia yesterday set a three-day deadline for political parties to resolve the power vacuum in Yemen since the president and prime minister offered to resign last month.
The Houthis and their allies urged parties "to reach a solution and fill the vacuum" within three days or "the revolutionary leadership" would "take care of the situation of the state".
No measures were specified.
The deadline was set in a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting in a Sanaa sports hall attended by the party of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh but boycotted by Yemen's other major political movements.
The announcement was loudly applauded by thousands who took part in the forum, including tribal chiefs and officers in military uniform.
The Shia militia, which overran Sanaa in September, seized the presidential palace and key government buildings on January 20, plunging the country deeper into crisis and prompting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his premier to tender their resignations.
The Houthis have been holding talks with major political factions trying to agree on a way out of the standoff.
Talks have been revolving around either persuading Hadi to rescind his resignation or to form a presidential council to run the country for an interim period.
But no deal has been reached.
Opponents have staged demonstrations against the Houthis in several cities under the slogan: "Revolt until the overthrow of the coup" forces.
UN envoy Jamal Benomar has said that Hadi and his cabinet are effectively under house arrest, warning that violence could erupt at any time.
The crisis has raised fears that impoverished Yemen could become a failed state.
In unrest yesterday, gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a Houthi official, Abu Abdullah al-Ayyani, in Ibb in central Yemen, a security source said.
In neighbouring Baida province, two soldiers were killed in an ambush and two assailants died in a firefight, a military source said.
And a local official said an Al Qaeda leader named Abu Mussab died in a clash between the militant network and soldiers.


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