Yemen president sacked from party leadership: statement

Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was dismissed today from the leadership of his party, after being accused of soliciting UN sanctions against his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The General People's Congress said it appointed two members to the posts of vice president and secretary general in place of Hadi, who became president after Saleh was forced to resign in February 2012 after a year of bloody protests.
Saleh remains the head of the GPC, which holds 225 seats in Yemen's 301-member parliament.
The UN Security Council yesterday slapped US-proposed sanctions on Saleh and two allied Shiite rebel commanders for threatening peace in the impoverished country.

Saleh is accused of being the main backer of the Huthi rebels, who overran the capital unopposed in September, and have since expanded their control to coastal areas and regions south of Sanaa.
The UN move came after thousands of Saleh supporters had protested alongside rebels denouncing the planned sanctions.
The Security Council in August called on the Huthi rebels to end their armed uprising against Hadi and warned of sanctions against those who threaten the stability of Yemen, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.