SANAA: Northern Shiite rebels and a faction demanding southern autonomy Tuesday rejected a six-region federation plan for Yemen, which was agreed by parties during the “national dialogue” aimed at securing the country’s political transition.

A panel headed by President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi on Monday agreed the plan, which will be inserted into a new constitution and will divide Yemen into six federal regions — four in the north and two in the south. But Shiite rebels in the north claimed the division of the republic would not distribute wealth evenly, while a southern faction said the plan did not meet their aspirations for autonomy.

“We have rejected it because it divides Yemen into poor and wealthy” regions, said Mohammed Al-Bakheiti of the Shiite rebel group Ansarullah.

The six regions laid out in the plan include four in the north comprising Azal, Saba, Janad and Tahama, and two in the formerly independent south, Aden and Hadramawt.

Under the plan the northern province of Saada, bastion of Ansarullah rebels, also known as Huthis, is part of the Azal region — a zone that also includes Sanaa, Amran and Dhamar — that has no significant natural resources or access to sea. “Saada has stronger cultural, social and geographical links with (coastal) Haja, and Jawf” on the border with Saudi Arabia, Bakheiti said.