Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. File photoMOSCOW, April 18The Saudi authorities forced Yemeni President Abd Rabbah Mansour Hadi to resign and transfer them to the Presidential Governing Council, now the president is actually under house arrest, the Wall Street Journal writes, citing Saudi and Yemeni officials. In April, the President of Yemen, after seven years of civil war, which began, in part, because of his unwillingness to hand over power to the Houthis who removed him, handed over all transitional powers to a presidential leadership council, which included eight prominent political leaders. The creation of the council was announced following inter-Yemeni consultations in Riyadh, the participants of which called on the new power structure to start negotiations with the Houthis.The Houthis demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from YemenAccording to an American newspaper, during negotiations in Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud handed the Yemeni president a «written decree» outlining provisions for delegating powers to the council. Mohammed told the Yemeni leader that other participants in the consultations agreed on the need for his resignation, officials interviewed said. Saudi officials threatened to publish alleged evidence of his corrupt activities in an attempt to convince Hadi to step down. The now former Yemeni president is «virtually under house arrest at his residence in Riyadh with no access to phones,» one Saudi official said. According to another Saudi official, several Yemeni politicians were allowed to visit Hadi with the permission of the authorities. At the same time, another Saudi official said that Riyadh «did not organize» the removal of Hadi from power and did not threaten to expose acts of corruption. In turn, the representative of the new presidential the governing council put forward the version that Hadi is not under house arrest. At the same time, former spokesman Hadi Mukhtar al-Rahbi noted that the removal of the president from power violated the provisions of the country's constitution. Yemeni authorities to start negotiations with the Houthis
