Yemen’s Hadi challenges Shiite ‘coup’ after fleeing Sanaa

Yemen’s beleaguered Western-backed president escaped house arrest and fled the capital to friendly territory Saturday, labelling as a coup the grab for power by the Shiite militia that had held him. An aide said presidential guards had sneaked Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi out of his residence in Sanaa, and that he later made it to the main southern city of Aden. His supporters there have refused to recognise the authority of the presidential council installed by the Huthi militia to replace him, and Hadi himself called on world powers to “reject the coup.” In a statement, signed as president, he said all measures taken by the Huthis since they seized Sanaa in September and began a push to extend their control farther afield were “null and illegitimate”.

[Hadi] remains the legitimate president and that he resigned under pressure from Huthis.

an aide said

The president called for the national commission overseeing the drafting of a new constitution to create a federation to convene, saying it should meet in Aden or Taez province until Sanaa “returns as a safe capital for all Yemenis, and the withdrawal of all armed militia.” Hadi urged civil and military institutions to “abide by the decisions of the constitutional authority and to protect it, including above all the armed forces and security forces.”

World Yemen