SANAA
Yemen's Shiite Houthi movement on Thursday suspended the broadcast of a south-based channel before it aired a "major" statement that was expected to declare the secession of the south from the north, a source from the southern Yemeni city of Aden has said.
The source, a member of Aden's Security Committee, told The Anadolu Agency that Aden Channel was about to broadcast a statement on the separation of the south before it was taken off air by the Houthis controlling the transmission units in Sanaa.
Tawfiq al-Sheraabi, an official from Yemen's official television, confirmed that the channel's broadcast was suspended by the Shiite group.
"Houthis have been planning to suspend the broadcast of the channel which remained out of their control after they seized most of the state-run media outlets," al-Sheraabi said.
The Aden Security Committee is made up of a host of military leaders and local security officials from the south where secessionist sentiments are strong.
A new chapter of turmoil unfolded in Yemen earlier on Thursday when President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi submitted his resignation, shortly after a similar move from the government of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah.
The resignations came one day after the government failed to hold its weekly meeting after Houthi militants had taken over all main government offices.
Sanaa has been rocked by deadly clashes over the past few days between Houthi militants and presidential guard units near the presidential palace in Sanaa amid an apparent push by the former to consolidate their control over the fractious country.
The Houthis have been controlling Yemeni capital Sanaa since September of 2014 and moved to extend their control to other provinces since then.
Yemen in general has remained in a state of relative lawlessness since a popular uprising that erupted in 2011 forced autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down one year later.
