New UN peace plan for Yemen leaves out Hadi

UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has submitted a new peace plan proposing a new government that would not be led by President Hadi.

According to a copy of the report, seen by Reuters, vice-president Ali Mushin al-Ahmar should step down and Hadi will be given a largely symbolic position without much power.

"As part of the signing of a complete and comprehensive agreement, the current Vice President will resign and President Hadi will appoint a new Vice President," the peace plan says.

"After the completion of the [Houthi] withdrawal from Sanaa and the handing over of heavy and medium weapons (including ballistic missiles) Hadi will transfer all his powers to a Vice President, and the Vice President will appoint a new Prime Minister ... (who will form) a national unity government.”

Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher confirmed on Thursday that the Yemeni government had not yet received a draft of the UN’s peace proposal.

Other senior goverment officials have voiced their rejection of the terms of the peace plan outright.

"We emphasize our conviction that all proposals are doomed to failure if (they don’t reject the) excesses of the coup, which is the mother of all these calamities and the root of the evils," tweeted Abdullah al-Alimi, a senior official.

However, the United Arab Emirates a key member of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition backing Hadi on Thursday welcomed the UN proposal.

"The UAE supports the efforts of UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed knowing that the mission of a mediator is always tough," the state minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on Twitter.

"The roadmap represents a political solution for the Yemeni crisis," he added.

"The aim of a political settlement is to give priority to the interest of Yemen and regional stability. UN efforts represent a chance to bring Yemenis back to the political track. Other alternatives are gloomy," said Gargash.

The Yemeni civil war has raged for 19 months at a cost of more than 10,000 lives.