A new report by Wall Street Journal has revealed that Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi was forced to step down by Saudi Arabia and placed under house arrest.
The report quoted Saudi and Yemeni officials as affirming that “Saudi Arabia pushed Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to step down earlier this month, and Saudi authorities have largely confined him to his home in Riyadh and restricted communications with him in the days since.”
On April 7, Mr. Hadi handed power to a council of eight representatives of different Yemeni groups, as Saudi Arabia looks for ways to end a seven-year civil war in Yemen that has caused a humanitarian crisis and damaged the kingdom’s relations with Washington.
Riyadh welcomed Hadi’s resignation and promised $3 billion in support for Yemen, but The Wall Street Journal reported sources as saying that he was forced to resign when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threatened to make public evidence of his alleged corruption.
“Hadi is effectively under house arrest at his residence in Riyadh without access to phones,” a Saudi official told the US financial daily.
Amid talks taking place between Yemeni politicians in Riyadh in the second week of April, when Hadi handed over power to a council of various Yemeni groups, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) gave the Yemeni president a written decree that delegated his powers to the council, according to the officials who spoke to the Journal.
A second Saudi official said few Yemeni politicians had been allowed to meet him, and only with prior approval from Riyadh.
Another Saudi official told the Journal that Riyadh did not pressure Hadi to resign and that the kingdom was not keeping him under house arrest but rather the different pro-government factions in Yemen had lost faith in him and asked Saudi Arabia to persuade him to leave office.
“Saudi Arabia has not orchestrated the removal of Hadi nor threatened to expose alleged corruption,” the Saudi official said. “Its role was limited to conveying the desire of the Yemeni factions who participated together in the Yemeni-Yemeni talks to President Hadi.”
