President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi overrode objections from the ruling party, led my former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and allied Shi’ite rebels yesterday to swear in a new government in Yemen.

Thirty ministers were sworn in, three others rejected their appointment and a further three were out of the country.

A UN-brokered deal had seen Khaled Bahah nominated as prime minister and tasked with forming a government after parties and political groups agreed on an independent technocrat cabinet last weekend.

But Mr Saleh and the Shi’ite Houthi rebels backed away after the UN security council approved selective sanctions on Friday.

The UN ordered a freeze of all assets and a global travel ban on Mr Saleh, Houthi military commander Abd al-Khaliq al-Houthi and his second-in-command Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim.

The Houthis called the sanctions an obstacle to political transition and “a flagrant provocation of the feelings of Yemenis and a blatant interference in their internal affairs.”