Yemen leadership council gets president, deputy's powers

President Mansour Hadi creates Presidential Leadership Council that will run the Arab country's politics, military affairs and security during the transitional period.

President Hadi has transferred his power to the newly established Presidential Leadership Council that will run the country's foreign policy.
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President Hadi has transferred his power to the newly established Presidential Leadership Council that will run the country's foreign policy.

Yemen's President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi has relieved Vice President Ali Mohsen al Ahmar from his post and established a Presidential Leadership Council that will run the country's key affairs including politics and the military. 

"I am announcing the founding of a leading presidential council to complete the implementation of the transitional period's tasks," President Hadi said on Thursday. 

"I am transferring all my power to the presidential council in an irrevocable way in accordance with the constitution and the Gulf Initiative's executive mechanism."

The new body will assume the duties of both the president and his deputy, and the council will run the nation's politics, military affairs and security during the transitional period, the president said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia welcomed the Yemen president's decision and announced support to the poor Arab country's economy with $3 billion.

Riyadh also urged the new presidential council to begin negotiations with Houthi rebels. 

Ramadan ceasefire 

The transfer of powers to the presidential council comes as a fragile two-month truce brokered by the United Nations in a war-torn country is under way and has given people just a glimmer of hope as they continue to struggle for survival.

The internationally recognised government, supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been locked in a violent power struggle since 2014 when the insurgents seized the capital Sanaa.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

Yemen, long the poorest country in the Arab world, has also been battered by what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of the country's 30 million people now dependent on aid.

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