Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi won the support of Gulf neighbours Wednesday and readied for talks with Shiite militia who had attacked his residence, raising fears of a coup.
The powerful militia, known as Huthis, seized almost full control of the capital Sanaa in September and have fought pitched battles with government forces this week as they press for more political power.
On Tuesday, the militia seized Hadi’s offices at the presidential palace and attacked his residence, in what officials said was an attempt to overthrow the government.
There were no signs of fresh violence on Wednesday, but medical and security sources said at least 35 people had been killed and 94 wounded in the two previous days.
The unrest has raised deep international concern, with the UN Security Council condemning the attacks and backing Hadi as Yemen’s “legitimate authority”.
After an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council accused the Huthis of an attempted “coup” and expressed support for Hadi.
The Sunni-dominated GCC warned it “would take all measures necessary to protect their security, stability and vital interests in Yemen.”
A presidential source said Hadi was ready to bring together the country’s political factions, including the Huthis, and a UN special envoy in a bid to defuse the mounting crisis.
– UN envoy due for talks –
The envoy, Moroccan diplomat Jamal Benomar, was in Qatar and due to travel to Sanaa.
“The meeting will take place, but we are still waiting for Mr. Jamal Benomar to arrive,” the source told AFP.
A UN official said Benomar was not expected to travel to Yemen’s capital on Wednesday and could not give a date for his arrival.
Hadi earlier Wednesday received Huthi representative Saleh al-Sammad at his Sanaa residence, the source said.
The escalation has raised fears of a collapse of Hadi’s government, a key ally in America’s fight against Al-Qaeda, and of the country descending into chaos.
US President Barack Obama “is being updated by his national security team,” on the unrest, a senior administration official told AFP.
“We strongly condemn the violence and those stoking it in an effort to disrupt Yemen’s political transition,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“We will continue to support efforts to bring about a peaceful solution.”
The rising unrest has fuelled longtime divisions in Yemen, where the government, Huthis, southern separatists, powerful Sunni tribes and the local Al-Qaeda branch are all vying for influence.
The Huthis raised the stakes on Saturday by kidnapping of Hadi’s chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution.
Mubarak is leading efforts to reform how Yemen is governed under a “national dialogue” set up after autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced from power in February 2012 following a year of bloody protests inspired by the Arab Spring.
– Ex-strongman urges early vote –
Saleh’s party released a letter Wednesday it said the former strongman sent to Hadi a month earlier urging him to “hold early presidential and parliamentary elections to resolve the country’s crisis”.
Saleh has been accused of backing the Huthis, who are from the same Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam as the ex-leader, as has Shiite-dominated Iran.
Heavy fighting erupted Monday around the presidential palace and in other parts of Sanaa, with the Huthis seizing a key army base, taking control of state media and firing on a convoy carrying the prime minister, before a ceasefire was agreed.
Clashes resumed late Tuesday, with the militiamen seizing the palace and allegedly looting its arms depots and attacking Hadi’s residence elsewhere in the capital.
In a televised speech after fighting subsided, defiant militia leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi warned “all options” were open against Hadi.
Yemen’s second city Aden meanwhile shut its airport, seaport and entrances to the city due to “dangerous developments in the capital” and “attacks on the symbol of national sovereignty and constitutional legitimacy”.
Aden is the main city in southern Yemen, which was an independent country from 1967 to 1990 and where a separatist movement still exists.
Since they seized Sanaa, the Huthis have pressed their advance south of the capital, where they have met stiff resistance from Sunnis, including Al-Qaeda loyalists.
Yemen’s branch of the jihadist network, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is considered its most dangerous and claimed responsibility for this month’s deadly attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Yemen has allowed the United States to carry out repeated drone attacks on Al-Qaeda militants in its territory.