. >> omar joins us live from the southern port city of aden. omar as you are saying, the ceasefire appears to be holding but what can you tell us about the presence of the houthis in and around the capital of sanaa? >> it's very heavy presence. we understand that the houthi fighters deployed a number of their members in different areas off the capital. they are certainly surrounding the presidential palace. they took control of two small mountains overlooking the presidential palace which will give them a vantage point. also surrounding surrounding the residence in the city center. they are pretty much in control of sanaa and i have to point out that they have been in control since last year, since they took over the capital in september. what happened yesterday was another show of fours. they are surrounding and reading control of the area surrounding the presidential palace and the p.m.'s residence mary ann. >> omar, we know that the government and the houthis have been locked in battle for years. what is different about this latest round of f

situations happening, the situation rapidly changing today in is a than -- in sanaa and tell us about the rest of the country and talking from the south, from the port city of adenthat's right. since the houthis took over the capitol last year especially the sentiments is only rising here in the south. there was unity for 24 years, there still is but people here see the north as an occupation. they tell you explicitly they had enough occupation from the north and they want to have their own south independent like they used to do before in 1967 and before that. when you speak to them people are fed up with that occupation and they want to break away and i think the events that have taken place not only now but before is giving those sentiments here a momentum and the southern movement is trying to capitalize on the chaos that is happening in the rest of the country and have their own independent state. >> okay i think it's a good time torus to just revisit that interview we conducted at al jazeera with the information minister who spoke to us literally within the last couple of minutes. let's just hear what she had to say about the developing situation in sanaa.

. >> accept are activities in the south renewed calls for a split and some are fighting in the port city of aden. the only line of security against al-qaeda are saying they will no longer take orders from the capitol. some activists view this as the unraveling of hard gained reforms. >> after the militia houthi and counter revolution, they destroy all the news of our peaceful resolution and the most important thing that they destroyed is the peaceful nature. >> the houthis are accused of colluding with the former president, a confluence of forces showing who now has power in yemen. >> a scholar at the middle east institute in washington d.c. said it will be difficult to resolve these deep divisions in yemen. >> part of the difficulty is that the houthis are backed by the iranians and the eatern tribes by the saudis. this would also be a proxy war that would fuel into it. it doesn't necessarily have to happen that way. i can see other ways. for example, last week, they were working on an agreement between the houthi and eastern tribes in which the eastern tribes agreed to maintain the flow of oil

let's go live to the port city of aden and why might the former president be taking these comments now> well according to his party, the general people's party, in a statement, that party is headed by the former president by the way in a statement that says that the former president had sent [ inaudible ] to the current president hadi on december 19th demanding him to end the u.n. sanctions against the former president and the two houthi leaders, and a call for an early presidential and parliamentary elections to end the current crisis and achieve national unity. all of this comes after a day of huge uncertainty in the capitol. yemen is facing an uncertain future. it's capital sana'a a battleground after some government troops fought with houthis. the rebels attacked the president's residence and stormed the president palace in another location. the >> translator: at this historic and exceptional point in time when conspiracies have been plotted against the country, there is a great danger in yemen. we will not be scared by foreign powers. the issue is crucial. >> reporter: in this tow

separatists in the south have renewed calls for a split in the north and some fighting in the port city of adenrters of the president there the only line of security against al-qaeda are saying they will no longer take orders from the capitol, some activists view this as the unraveleling of hard gained reforms. >> after the provision of the malitia of houthi and the counter revolution they destroyed all the news of all peaceful revolution and the most important thing they destroyed is the peaceful meetings. >> reporter: backed by i ran and in control of the capitol the houthis are also accused of colluding with the former president with forces showing who now has power in yemen. gerald tan, al jazeera. >> editor in chief of the yemen post and joins me live from the capitol sanaa on skype and good to have you with us and let me start asking you about the houthi calls for a military and presidential committee to be formed in order to run the country, are the houthis really capable of doing that? >> it's not only them right now that are demanding the military council, there are other factions as w

we will no doubt camp back to you a little bit later in the program and let's go south to the port city of adenn southern yemen. omar extraordinary and dramatic scenes in the capitol this morning. you were there in the south. we spoke to the yemen information minister earlier and said some extraordinary things and one of the things she said omar is we will probably see a new yemen by the end of the day. that is a very powerful and dramatic statement to make. what do you make of it omar? >> it is very powerful dramatic and very very significant because every one here was feeling this particular moment where the houthis will storm the palace and try to force the president to resign and have their own day in ruling the country. now, it's a bit late to a lot of people that we have been speaking to some in the south and others when we were up north in the capitol sanaa because this is what they expected from the houthis to do and they were even criticizing the president for not doing enough and know the president is weak and doesn't have power over his military but they did say to save the prestige

we will no doubt camp back to you a little bit later in the program and let's go south to the port city of adenn southern yemen. omar extraordinary and dramatic scenes in the capitol this morning. you were there in the south. we spoke to the yemen information minister earlier and said some extraordinary things and one of the things she said omar is we will probably see a new yemen by the end of the day. that is a very powerful and dramatic statement to make. what do you make of it omar? >> it is very powerful, dramatic and very, very significant because every one here was feeling this particular moment where the houthis will storm the palace and try to force the president to resign and have their own day in ruling the country. now, it's a bit late to a lot of people that we have been speaking to some in the south and others when we were up north in the capitol sanaa because this is what they expected from the houthis to do and they were even criticizing the president for not doing enough and know the president is weak and doesn't have power over his military but they did say to save the prestig

the prime minister earlier been attacked and minister of information says the capitol is in chaos and could be a new yemen by the end of the day and more today joining live from the southern port city of adenr the information minister telling us we possibly could see a new yemen by the end of the day and bring us up to date with sequence of events happening in the capitol as it unfolded. >> darren around 7:30 this morning there were reports of heavy gun battles around the presidential palace. we were told that the guards were engaged in clashes with some shia houthi fighters then we didn't know exactly what triggered those clashes and we had two versions one coming from the presidential guard saying they were provoked by the shia houthis and therefore opened fire and houthis on the other hand were saying that because a day before the some of the army in that area were deployed on orders by the president and they thought this was aimed at them and that triggered the clash then the events quickly developed and it was chaos, there was at some point a ceasefire, that didn't last for more than 45 minutes before heavy clashes resumed again, people who are living in that area were fleeing the hea

the president putting his interests ahead of the yemeni people coming hours after the president's home was shelled and seized control of the presidential palace. there are reports the country's second largest airport in the port city of aden has been closed. a short time ago i was told there was some optimism that the sides can start talking again. >> the speech of the houthi spiritual leader yesterday gave more time for negotiations so there is hope that clashes could ease and give negotiations time to succeed. houthi right now is powerless and needs to cooperate with all parties to reach a deal. there is a meeting with them in the next hour to make sure this happens as soon as possible. the problem is last september when the houthis took over sa sanna, they signed a deal that gives the partners power over every decision making in yemen. when the president signed this he wasn't expecting it to be as serious as it is today. the houthis want to be partners in decision making. the president does not want to involve them saying this is his authority forgetting he did sign a deal last september to give them that authority. this is what caused the uprise of the houthis. it is chaotic because the other parties are saying you ca

of ceasefire in place. let's talk to our correspondent omar al saleh who is in the yemeni port city of aden. first of all omar, it is appearing that heavy weaponry was used from members of the houthis and members of the presidential guard on the other. >> that's right. according to witnesses it was very loud, the sound of gun fire started around 6:00 a.m. this morning and continued for several hours. now there is a ceasefire declared by the president's office we understand the president is meeting with his set of advisors with includes members of the houthi group. this is a dangerous escalation. the two sides are trading accusations, the houthis on the one hand says the president since yesterday ordered the army to deploy around the presidential palace. the houthis didn't like that decision and in the morning the houthis say that members of the presidential guard attacked a houthi vehicle or a number of houthi fighters. now, the president side or the republican guards, the presidential guards rather, give another picture saying that they were approached by a speeding vehicle by the houthis an

. >> separatists in the south renewed calls for a split and some are fighting in the port city of aden. the only line of security against al-qaeda are saying they will no longer take orders from the capitol. some activists view this as the unraveling of hard-gained reforms. >> after the militia, houthi and counter revolution, they destroy all the news of our peaceful resolution and the most important thing that they destroyed is the peaceful nature. >> the houthis are accused of colluding with the former president, a confluence of forces showing who now has power in yemen. >> the japanese government is doing its best to secure the release of two citizens held hostage by isil, sending a top official to try and secure the release of the two. isil demand add $200 million ransom be paid for their freedom. the deadline pass add few hours ago. >> egypt's president al sisi would like to see the case against three al jazeera journalists resolved. our colleagues have now been imprisoned in egypt for 391 days. the three were falsely accused of colluding with the outlawed muslim brotherhood charg

: and comes security concerns and separatist are split from the north and some fighting in the port city of adenrters of the president there the only line of security there against al-qaeda are saying they will no longer take orders from the capitol and some activists view this as the unravelling of hard gained reforms. >> after the malitia of houthi and revolution they destroy the peaceful revolution and the most important thing they destroyed is the peaceful missiles. >> reporter: backed by iran and in control of the capitol the houthis are accused of colluding with the former president ali and forces showing who now has power in yemen. gerald tan, al jazeera. >>> it's a continually moving situation and let's bring in a security analyst consulting fellow with united institute and in london and good to see you and how do you assess where we are right now? >> it's a very fluid situation. it could go anyway at the moment. the interesting thing about it is in some ways what is happening in yemen is a micro cosom of the middle east and extremist and al-qaeda involved and you have former dictators w

the army and expected to hold an emergency meeting on the situation and we are live in the southern port city of adennd omar we understand the president is having a meeting with all parties following yesterday's dramatic events in the capitol sanaa, what are we expecting to come out of this latest meeting? >> well, let me tell you the latest update i have with regards to the meeting, the government's spokesperson told al jazeera that that meeting didn't happen instead a meeting between the president and his advisor advisors did happen, now who are the advisors? the advisors represent different political parties including the houthis. now what is likely to come out of the meeting is some sort of a roadmap to end the crisis now when the government called for the meeting to be chaired by the president with all the political players including members of parliament and the drafting committee to form a new constitution that gave an indication that perhaps the president and the government will bow to the houthi pressure because they don't want it in six federal regions so that the speculation while it came

. >>> in yemen protesters calling for independence of rallies in the southern port city of aden. ect that houthi leaders and political parties are trying to form in the capitol. it comes a week after the president and cabinet resigned. >>> south africa's government has granted parole to an apartheid death squad leader. he was jailed for the kidnap torture and murder of a number of anti-apartheid activists in the '80s and '90s. tania page has the details. >> reporter: reaction to the news greeted with mixed feelings here on the streets. one woman said that he should be forgiven. it's time for the nation to move forward. another man said he has only served a very small fraction of the huge sentence -- more than 200 years that was handed down to him, and he should rot in prison. he confessed to about 100 instances of murder torture and fraud, carried out as he was the commander of the police insurgency unit. which was tasked with identifying, hunting, and killing anti-apartheid supporters. the justice minister says that has no bearing on his decision. he says he has the support of th

the houthis and sala accuse isla of creating a sectarian divide in places like this province where tribesmen say they are ready to fight the houthis. or the port city adene time being the political impasse continues. a situation that can only improve if yemen's main political factions agree to share power. >>> the president of argentina has gone on national television to deny a coverup in the mysterious death of a prosecutor. alberto nisman was found shot in the head hours before he was supposed to give testimony on the bombing of a jewish center in 1994. she has called on congress to dissolve the spy agency. faiz jamil has more. >> reporter: after more than a week of controversy and protests argentina's president has announced major shakeup in the intelligence service. >> translator: i have taken the decision for the secretary to be dissolved and for a federal agency of intelligence to be created whose direction will be led by a general director and a sub director. they are appointed by the executive, but require the agreement of the senate to function. >> reporter: prosecutor alberto nisman was found dead in his apartment last week a day before he was