The Foreign Ministry of Oman has welcomed the establishment of a new presidential council in Yemen.

The ministry issued a statement on Friday expressing the hope that the announcement of the establishment of a presidential leadership council in the sisterly Republic of Yemen will contribute to supporting the existing efforts of peace resolution. ‘It will contribute to addressing the humanitarian situation and finding a comprehensive political settlement that preserves Yemen’s unity, sovereignty, and independence, in which all Yemeni parties participate. This will be done in a manner that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people,’ the statement said.

Yemen’s exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi transferred his powers to a new presidential council on Thursday, in a major political shake-up that took place as efforts to end the country’s years-long war gained traction with a fragile two-month truce.

Hadi said he has dismissed Vice President Ali Mohsen al Ahmar and delegated his own powers to a presidential council that will carry out leadership duties.

The new body will assume the duties of both the president and his deputy, said a statement from President Hadi.

The new council will carry out political, military and security duties for the Yemeni government during what it refers to as a ‘transitional period’.

Hadi was elected in 2012 following the political upheaval of a 2011 uprising to a two-year term to oversee a democratic transition. But in late 2014, the Iran-aligned Houthi group seized the capital Sanaa and Hadi eventually fled south and then to Saudi Arabia and remained as head of the internationally-recognised government.

Hadi’s statement said the move was taken in line with a 2011 power transfer initiative devised by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the wake of the anti-government protests and political crisis.

“With this declaration a Presidential Leadership Council shall be established to complete the implementation of the tasks of the transitional period. I irreversibly delegate to the Presidential Leadership Council my full powers in accordance with the constitution and the Gulf Initiative and its executive mechanism,” Hadi said on Yemeni state TV.

Seven years of conflict have divided Yemen between an internationally-recognised government led by Hadi and backed by Saudi Arabia based in the southern city of Aden, and the Houthis in Sanaa.