The United Arab Emirates today followed Saudi Arabia in announcing that its Yemen embassy will reopen, but in the coastal city of Aden not the militia-held capital.
"The UAE has decided its embassy would resume work in the city of Aden," Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs, was quoted by the official WAM news agency as saying.
Aden is increasingly becoming Yemen's de facto capital since President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled there after escaping house arrest in Sanaa, controlled by the Shiite Huthi militia.
The UAE was among many countries, including Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Turkey that shuttered their embassies in Sanaa this month over security fears.
Western-backed Hadi, who rescinded a resignation he offered last month and has declared all actions by the Huthis to be illegitimate, has said he hopes to make Aden secure for foreign diplomatic missions.
In its day, Aden was the capital of an independent south Yemen.
In a first step, the Saudi embassy said yesterday that Ambassador Mohammed Saeed al-Jaber had resumed his duties from the kingdom's consulate in Aden.
The Huthis, who have long clashed with central authorities, descended from their power base in northern Yemen to seize Sanaa in September.
After their attempts to expand into southern and central Yemen were checked by fierce resistance from Al-Qaeda and from Sunni tribesmen, they moved to seize power this month in what Yemen's Gulf neighbours branded a coup.
UAE's Gargash said the decision to operate from Aden "comes to consolidate the constitutional legitimacy in the sisterly state of Yemen represented" by Hadi.
