ADEN (AFP): Yemen’s southern separatists have declared ‘self-governance’ in regions under their control as a peace deal with the government crumbled.
The Southern Transitional Council (STC), in a statement issued today (Sunday), declared a state of emergency and said it would “self-govern” the key southern port city of Aden and other southern provinces.
The council accused Yemen’s Saudi-backed government of failing to perform its duties and of “conspiring” against the southern cause.
“The Southern Transitional Council announces a self-administration rule in the south, as of midnight Saturday, April 25th, 2020,” the council’s statement read.
In this regard, Yemen’s foreign minister Mohammed al-Hadhrami, said, “The announcement by the so-called transitional council of its intention to establish a southern administration is a resumption of its armed insurgency and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement.”
Yemen’s foreign minister further said, “The so-called transitional council will bear alone the dangerous and catastrophic consequences for such an announcement.”
The breakdown between the two supposed allies – separatists and forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi – is another facet of the country’s complicated civil war.
The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore power to Hadi’s government after it was removed from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis.
However, the separatists turned on the government in August last year and seized the interim capital of Aden. The war stopped between the two groups after a deal in November 2019.
Under the accord, reached in Riyadh, the STC and other regions in the south were supposed to join a new national cabinet and place all forces under the control of the internationally recognised government.
The years-long conflict in Yemen has killed more than 100,000 people and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.
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