The Yemeni president has sacked his deputy and transferred power to a leadership council in a major shake-up of the Saudi-backed coalition fighting Houthi rebels in the country’s civil war.
Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi announced that the eight-member council would be led by former minister Rashad Al-Alimi.
He tasked it with negotiating with the Houthis to agree a permanent ceasefire and a political solution to the war.
The move comes five days after the start of a two-month nationwide truce.
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Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in 2015, when the Iran-aligned Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country.
The Yemeni President, Mr. hadi fled abroad, and a Saudi-led alliance of Arab states intervened to restore his rule.
However, seven years of military stalemate have followed.
The fighting has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 23 million people – three quarters of the population – in need of some form of aid.
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