YEMEN’S DEFENCE MINISTER ESCAPES TO ADEN

Aden, Yemen, 18 Jumadil Awwal 1436/9 March 2015 (MINA) – Yemen’s defence minister has arrived at his house outside the southern port city of Aden after fleeing the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, security officials say.

Major-General Mahmoud al-Subaihi was the chief guest at a lunch hosted by Ahmed Abdullah al-Majeedi, the governor of Lahj province, on Sunday afternoon, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The lunch was attended by dozens of influential Yemeni officials and high-ranking social dignitaries.

Security officials said Subaihi left Sanaa on Saturday and drove all night to reach his house in the village of Ras al-Ara in the coastal area of al-Madhariba outside Aden.

In Sanaa, Shia Houthi fighters who have been in control of since September stormed Subaihi’s home after hearing the news of his flight but found only several guards there.

He had been previously placed under house arrest by the Houthis who took over the government in a coup on February 6.

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, recognised as Yemen’s president by regional powers, has set up his government in Aden.

Hadi, who also fled to the southern port city two weeks ago after escaping from a Houthi house arrest, considers Aden  to be Yemen’s capital, a top aide said.

Hadi traversed a tunnel linking his house to the nearby house of one of his sons, and then travelled to Aden using back roads.

“Aden became the capital of Yemen as soon as the Houthis occupied Sanaa,” the aide quoted Hadi as saying in reference to their takeover of the capital several months ago.

The remarks about Aden reflect Hadi’s determination to hold out against Houthi efforts to extend their influence, but are purely symbolic because moving the capital requires a change to the constitution.

Aden, Yemen’s second largest city, was capital of a once independent South Yemen before unification in 1990, when Sanaa became the unified country’s capital.

Several Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, have already moved their embassies to Aden after an exodus of foreign diplomats from Sanaa in February over security concerns.

In Sanaa, the Houthis named a “presidential council” after Hadi and Khalid Bahah, Yemen’s prime minister, submitted their resignations in January in protest at what critics branded a coup. (T/P001/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)