Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdul Malik and several government ministers on Monday returned to Aden, months after they had left due to instability in the southern city, the temporary seat of the government.

Their return marks a major step in the implementation of a Saudi-mediated peace pact signed earlier this month by the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Abdul Malik and ministers of finance, electricity, higher education, telecommunications, local administration and Awqaf flew into Aden from Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s online newspaper Adan Al Ghad reported.

They are staying at the premises of an Arab military coalition in the city until the government offices are prepared for them, the paper added.

Aden became the seat of the government after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Al Houthi militia seized the capital Sana’a in a coup late 2014, plunging the impoverished country into a ruinous war.