U.N. Security Council slams Houthi rebel takeover in Yemen

Houthi rebels in Yemen should stop taking over democratic institutions and start negotiations, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted in an emergency meeting on Sunday.

All parties in Yemen should cease armed hostilities, and the Houthis should withdraw their forces from government institutions, the council said.

Sunday’s 15-0 vote came several days after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that Yemen was “collapsing before our eyes.”

The rebels – Shiite Muslims who have long felt marginalized in the majority Sunni country – surrounded the presidential palace last month. Yemen’s President and his Cabinet resigned days later.

Last week, the United States, the United Kingdom and France suspended operations at their embassies in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa amid the growing unrest.

The Houthi takeover hasn’t been smooth. There has already been resistance to their attempted takeover of national government institutions from different groups in Yemen, particularly in the south, where there’s a long-running secessionist movement, and in the oil-rich province of Marib to the east of Sanaa.

Sunday’s resolution says the Security Council deplores “the unilateral actions taken by the Houthis to dissolve parliament and take over Yemen’s government institutions, which have seriously escalated the situation, expressing alarm at the acts of violence committed by the Homhis and their supporters, which have undermined the political transition process in Yemen, and jeopardized the security, stability, sovereignty and unity of Yemen.”

The resolution also noted “grave concern that the Houthis are holding Yemeni government officials,” including the President, under house arrest.

CNN’s Greg Botelho and journalist Hakim Almasmari contributed to this report.