SANAA: Yemen’s president named the country’s UN envoy as prime minister on Monday in a move welcomed by the Shiite Houthi group which controls the capital, signaling an easing in the country’s prolonged political crisis.

An aide to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said Khaled Bahah’s name had been among three proposed last week by the Houthi group after they rejected appointment of Ahmed Awad as prime minister last week.

“We believe he (Bahah) is the right person,” said Abdelmalek Al-Ejri, a member of the Houthi political bureau. “His appointment will help the country overcome the difficulties it is going through.”

Bahah, who was born in 1965 and who holds a masters degree in administration, business and finance from India’s University of Pune, served previously as oil minister before being appointed Yemen’s envoy to the UN.