Yemen has reached "total deadlock," President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi said in a resignation letter to parliament on Thursday after a deadly standoff with Shiite militia.
Hadi, whose resignation was rejected by the speaker of parliament, said he had been unable to fulfil his aims as president since the militia overran most of the capital last September.
"We have suffered from numerous difficulties and the unwillingness of the main political actors to assume their responsibility to lead the country to calmer waters," he said.