Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Saturday dismissed measures taken by the Shiite Huthi militia as "null and illegitimate", in his first public comments since fleeing house arrest in Sanaa.
In a statement he signed as president -- an apparent retraction of a previous offer to resign -- Hadi said "all measures and appointments made since September 21 are null and illegitimate", and urged the international community to "reject the coup" by the militia.
A Hadi aide said earlier the president's resignation last month was tendered under pressure from the militia that overran the capital in September.
Hadi on Saturday called for a national commission to oversee the drafting of a new constitution making the republic a federation.
He said it should meet in Aden or Taez province until Sanaa "returns as a safe capital for all Yemenis, and the withdrawal of all armed militia".
The president, who arrived in Aden earlier Saturday, urged civil and military institutions to "abide by the decisions of the constitutional authority and to protect it, including above all the armed forces and security forces".
He demanded an end to the "house arrest" of Prime Minister Khalid Bahah and other officials in Sanaa, and urged Arab states and the UN Security Council to "protect the process in Yemen... and not to legitimise the coup in any way".
Source: AFP