Houthi Shiite Yemeni wearing army uniforms stand guard on a street leading to the presidential palace in Sanaa. (Associated Press)
UN envoy Jamal Benomar said on Sunday that all Yemeni factions, including the Shiite militia which two days earlier dissolved the government and parliament, have agreed to resume talks.
Shiite militia chief "Abdelmalek al-Huthi and all political parties in Yemen have agreed to resume dialogue... which will begin tomorrow (Monday)," Benomar told reporters in Sanaa.
The Huthi militia on Friday created a "presidential council" and a "security committee" in a move it said was aimed at filling a power vacuum and heading off the threat from Al-Qaeda, which has a strong presence in east and south Yemen.
"I stress on the need for all political leaderships to take up their responsibilities and achieve consensus to overcome this political impasse the country is going through," said Benomar, insisting on a "peaceful solution" to the crisis.
The militia, also known as Ansarullah, overran Sanaa in September, then seized the presidential palace and key government buildings last month, prompting Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah to resign.
"The situation is very, very seriously deteriorating, with the Huthis taking power and making this government vacuum," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.
"There must be restoration of legitimacy of President Hadi," he told reporters after talks with King Salman in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which alongside the six Gulf nations had slammed the Huthi action as a coup.
Huthi said on Saturday the establishment of the transitional bodies was "in the interest of all Yemenis without exception", including separatists in the country's south, who have rejected the move.
Yemen has been riven by instability since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that forced strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2012.