Top Yemeni Official Abducted by Rebels
The Yemeni president's chief of staff, Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak, has been kidnapped by gunmen in the capital Sana'a amidst discussions over the country's new constitution, The Guardian reports.
Mubarak is secretary-general of the body responsible for the government transition following former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's resignation in 2012. "Ali Abdullah Saleh is a rare figure in the Arab world, or anywhere else: an autocrat overthrown by popular revolt who nonetheless remains in his country, unmolested," the New York Times wrote last January.
Mubarak is thought to have been taken by fighters from the Houthi movement, which The Guardian reports is "widely believed" to be backed by Saleh. Officials said Mubarak was stopped at a checkpoint and taken to an unknown location; the Houthi militia seized control of Sana'a in September.
In October, President Abd-Raboo Mansour Hadi named Mubarak prime minister, but he declined the position after his nomination prompted opposition from the Houthis. Mubarak, The Guardian reports, is from the south of Yemen and a representative of that region's independence movement.
