SANA – Yemeni authorities has re-opened the country’s main port in the southern city of Aden on [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Thursday, in a move that could ease political tensions.
It came hours after embattled President Abd Rabu Hadi struck a deal with powerful Houthi rebels.
“The decision to re-open Aden’s port and airport was made by the Higher Security Committee,” a local official told newsmen, asking not to be named.
Employees returned to work at the two facilities; a day after pro-Hadi officials closed them in support of the internationally recognized president against the Houthis.
Earlier in the week, the Houthis seized the presidential palace in the Sana’a and besieged Hadi’s house,
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heightening turmoil in the Arabian Peninsula country.
“In spite of the deal unveiled on Wednesday, the Houthis were still controlling the presidential palace and standing guard on Hadi’s residence,’’ witnesses said.
Hadi has conceded some of the key demands set out by rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in return for the rebels freeing his chief of staff Ahmed bin Mubarak, whom they abducted on Saturday.
“Bin Mubarak’s release will be made to synchronize with the authorities’ implementation of the national partnership principle,’’ Houthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bakheiti said without giving details.
The draft constitution, to which the Houthis have objected, would be amended to bring it into line with a previous agreement between Hadi and the rebels and will require all-party consensus.
The deal confirms that the new Yemen would be a federal state, but it does not mention the six-region plan vehemently rejected by the Shiite movement, which now controls much of northern Yemen, including Sana’a.
Yemen also faces a secessionist movement in the south. (dpa/NAN)