Kidnapped Yemen aide will be freed in hours-Houthi official

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi movement plans to free the presidential chief of staff, whom it seized on Jan. 17 during a power struggle with then President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Houthi official Ali al-Quhoom said on Tuesday. A Yemeni official had earlier reported that the aide, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, had been released in Sanaa to a tribal leader from his native Shabwa province in southeastern Yemen. There was no immediate comment from that official. Quhoom, a member of the Houthi politburo, confirmed that a delegation of tribal chiefs headed by Sheikh Awad al-Wazir, a parliament member from Shabwa, were meeting Houthi officials in Sanaa to mediate for bin Mubarak's release. "He will be freed within hours," Quhoom told Reuters by telephone, adding there would be no conditions attached to his release. "This is a step to try to end the situation (of political crisis) and in honour of the mediation team." Houthis seized bin Mubarak and threatened unspecified further steps after Hadi unveiled a new draft constitution that would devolve authority to regions, in an attempt to resolve big regional, political and sectarian differences in Yemen. The Houthis quickly rejected the draft, saying it paved the way for dividing the country and obstructing a power sharing agreement they signed when they captured Sanaa in September. Hadi and the rest of his government resigned on Thursday in exasperation at the Houthi takeover of much of the country. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi, Editing by William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)