Yemen: Southern Transitional Council abandons self-rule declaration
The group said it will now focus on supporting the Riyadh agreement
Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council has abandoned its declaration of self-rule and pledged to implement a Saudi-brokered peace agreement with the government, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The STC would allow the power-sharing Riyadh Agreement to go ahead, spokesman Nizar Haitham wrote on Twitter.
“We have achieved our goals,” said Mr Haitham. “We affirm the continuing and deepening of our strategic partnership with the Arab Coalition.”
The deal was thrown into disarray this year as disagreements between the two sides led to STC fighters seizing control of the southern port city of Aden, the interim seat of the internationally recognised government, igniting clashes across southern Yemen.
The deal, signed in Riyadh last autumn, set the stage for an end to a long-running rivalry between Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the STC.
Saudi Arabia declared early on Wednesday that it had proposed a plan to “accelerate” the deal, which calls for the formation of a new government within 30 days and the appointment of a new governor and security director for Aden, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
The UAE welcomed the developments towards implementing the Riyadh agreement in a statement issued on state media.
Yemen has been gripped in war since 2014, when Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, from the government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.
As the war rages, the population is facing continued hunger, cholera outbreaks and locust infestations, as well as battling the coronavirus.
Parties to the Riyadh agreement hope it can bring order and help to tackle the crises.
The new Saudi proposal addressed commitments that were obstacles for months, such as the formation of a government composed of 24 ministers with equal representation for northerners and southerners, including the separatists.
It also asked for the withdrawal of rival forces from Aden and the flashpoint southern province of Abyan.
The parties’ commitment to a final deal remains unclear. But the STC’s breakthrough concession suggested it had agreed to the Saudi proposal in principle.
The blueprint gives Yemen’s current prime minister, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, the mandate to form a government over the next month.
Yemen’s government spokesman Rajih Badi welcomed the Saudi initiative and expressed hope that the STC would make good on its promise “out of necessary and urgent national interest”.
Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s vice minister of defence, said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to implement the Riyadh deal “have succeeded” and will “achieve lasting peace, security, and prosperity for Yemen”.
Pompeo says US seized Iranian weapons on way to Houthi rebels in Yemen
On Tuesday, UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths painted a bleak picture of the country for the Security Council.
UN-mediated peace negotiations between the rebels and government failed to produce an agreement, he said. Houthi forces are pushing fiercely into the oil-rich province of Marib “with profound humanitarian and economic consequences”.
“I do not wish to sugarcoat things,” said Mr Griffiths, who warned that the country could plunge at any moment into “a new phase of prolonged escalation, uncontrolled spread of Covid-19, and economic decline”.
The deal was thrown into disarray this year as disagreements between the two sides led to STC fighters seizing control of the southern port city of Aden, the interim seat of the internationally recognised government, igniting clashes across southern Yemen.
