On April 7, Yemen's president-in-exile Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi stepped down after seven years of war in the country and handed power to the newly created governing council, consisting of eight politicians and military officers, including from the separatist South Yemeni Transitional Council. However, the Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) is not part of the body.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, ambassadors of Arab, all Gulf countries, and some foreign states attended the ceremony. Despite reports that Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib would attend the ceremony, a source in Lebanon told Sputnik that the minister was unable to visit Yemen.
Members of the new governing council pledged during the swearing-in to "contribute to the prosperity and development of Yemen."
The council's formation was announced following inter-Yemeni consultations in Riyadh, where the Saudi leadership called on the council to initiate talks with the Houthis to establish peace in Yemen, which had been riven by violent conflict for years.
On April 8, the Houthis, ruling in the Yemeni north, stated that the new presidential council created outside the country could not have the power to govern the state, as Hadi was deprived of power at the time of the transfer.
The conflict between the Yemeni government forces and the Houthis has been going on since 2014. The situation was further aggravated in 2015 after a coalition led by Saudi Arabia joined the conflict on the Yemeni government's side and began conducting air, land and sea operations against the Islamist rebel movement. On April 1, a two-month ceasefire under the auspices of the UN began in Yemen, supported by all parties to the conflict, including the Houthis.