Yemen President Hands Powers to Council as Saudi Arabia Pushes to End War

ADEN, Yemen—Yemen’s president dismissed his controversial deputy on April 7 and delegated his own powers to a presidential council in a move backed by Saudi Arabia, removing some obstacles to U.N.-led efforts to revive negotiations to end the seven-year war. Riyadh announced $3 billion in financial aid to the Saudi-backed government following the announcement by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It also called for talks with the Iran-backed Houthis, the de facto authorities in the north, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition. In a major breakthrough, Yemen’s warring sides agreed to a two-month truce that began on April 2, the first since 2016. Dismissed Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a Sunni Islamist-leaning general, is resented by the Shi’ite Houthis for past military campaigns in their northern stronghold and by southerners for his leading role in the 1994 north-south civil war. “I irreversibly delegate to the Presidential Leadership Council my full powers …