Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid bin Daghar yesterday was preparing to flee the country for Saudi Arabia after separatists seized the area around the presidential palace in Aden in fierce battles overnight, security officials said.
Fighters loyal to the so-called Southern Transitional Council fought all way to the gates of the Palace of Maashiq, forcing Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s troops to abandon their positions, officials said, adding that Daghar and several Cabinet members would leave imminently to Riyadh.
The separatist forces did not enter the palace itself and were stopped by Saudi Arabian troops who have been guarding the palace for the past months.
However, a senior government official said that Daghar and several ministers remain inside and that the separatists have not seized the palace itself.
The official declined to say whether the prime minister was to leave Aden.
The fighting in Aden first erupted on Sunday, when a deadline issued by the separatists for the government to resign expired.
Hadi, who is in self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia, has described the separatists’ action as a “coup.”
The violence in Aden has killed at least 36 people and wounded 185 since Sunday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
It has also exposed deep divisions within the alliance between Hadi’s government and the Saudi-led coalition. The two are fighting against Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who are in control of the country’s north.
However, within the Saudi-led coalition, allies from the United Arab Emirates have trained the separatist forces and empowered them over the past year, in a direct challenge to Hadi, who is in Riyadh.
The US Department of State has expressed concern and called upon all parties to “refrain from escalation and further bloodshed.”
“We also call for dialogue among all parties in Aden to reach a political solution,” the statement said. “The Yemeni people are already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Additional divisions and violence within Yemen will only increase their suffering.”
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