SANAA
Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah has departed the presidential palace in Sanaa – where he had been held by Shiite Houthi militants for three days – for a safe location, a senior government official has said.
The official, who requested anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Bahah had left for a "safe location" after leaving the presidential palace.
On Tuesday, violent clashes erupted between presidential guard units and militants from the Shiite Houthi movement, which had earlier captured the presidential palace in Sanaa.
The Houthis have remained in control of Sanaa since last September. They have since moved to extend their influence to other provinces, especially in central Yemen.
President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is currently inside his home in downtown Sanaa. His prime minister, Khaled Bahah, meanwhile, remains detained inside the presidential palace.
Saleh's party backs Houthi terms for ending Yemen crisis
The party of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday said it supported four conditions laid down by Houthi leader Abdel-Malak al-Houthi for ending Yemen's current political crisis.
An official source from Saleh's General People's Congress Party said the party and its allies supported recommendations made by an earlier national dialogue conference, along with the terms of a peace and partnership agreement penned in September of last year.
He called for implementing the four points laid down by al-Houthi in a Tuesday address, saying they were in line with the earlier peace deal.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, al-Houthi cited four requirements for Yemen to end its political crisis.
These requirements, he added, included the need to reform the national agency tasked with monitoring the implementation of the recommendations that came out of the national dialogue conference, which concluded in January of last year.
He also called for amending Yemen's draft constitution, implementing the peace and partnership agreement, and improving the country's overall security situation.
Yemen was rocked by more instability on Monday when Houthi militants clashed with presidential guard units before taking control of the presidential palace in capital Sanaa.
The Houthis, who have maintained control of Sanaa since last September, also detained Prime Minister Khaled Bahah inside the presidential palace.
