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Crisis in Yemen as Aden separatists declare self-government Crisis in Yemen as Aden separatists declare self-rule
(about 11 hours later)
Southern Transitional Council breaks with wartorn state’s internationally recognised governmentSouthern Transitional Council breaks with wartorn state’s internationally recognised government
Yemen’s southern separatists on Sunday broke a peace deal with the country’s internationally recognised government and claimed sole control of the regional capital of Aden, threatening to resume fighting between the two ostensible allies. The Saudi Arabian-backed government in Yemen has warned of a catastrophe if the country’s powerful separatist movement forges ahead with its declaration of self-rule over the key port city of Aden and other southern provinces.
In a statement the separatist Southern Transitional Council, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, declared a state of emergency and said it would “self-govern” the key southern port city and other southern provinces. The separatists accused Yemen’s government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, of corruption and mismanagement. The Southern Transitional Council’s armed forces were deploying on Sunday in Aden, the interim seat of the internationally recognised government backed by the Saudi-led military coalition that had until now included the STC.
There was no immediate response from the internationally recognised government to the separatists’ announcement. The United Arab Emirates, unlike Saudi Arabia, has backed the STC, so the move has the potential to pit two close Gulf allies against one another, complicate the task of securing a national agreement to end to the five-year civil war, and possibly restore the geographical division that existed in the former British colony before unification of Yemen in 1990.
The division between the two supposed allies is another facet of the country’s complicated civil war. On one side are the separatists and on the other are forces loyal to the former president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Both have fought together in the Saudi-led coalition’s war against Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels. The STC made its move on Saturday, announcing emergency rule in Aden and all southern governorates, but there were early signs that many of these governorates will not follow the STC’s lead, leaving the political map of Yemen even more fractured.
The Houthis in 2014 overran major parts of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, pushing out the internationally recognised government and ushering in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people. Hadi fled first to Aden and then to Saudi Arabia. In an effort to stem the scale of the southern rebellion, the foreign minister of the UN-recognised Yemen government, Mohammed al-Hadrami, condemned the STC’s move as “a resumption of its armed insurgency … and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement”.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the conflict in 2015 and has since waged war against the Houthis in an effort to restore Hadi’s government to power. The fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country has also left millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushed the country to the brink of famine. He called for Saudi Arabia to take “decisive measures against the continuing rebellion of the so-called Transitional Council”.
In August heavy fighting broke out between Hadi’s forces and the southern separatists when the latter took Aden, the temporary seat of Hadi’s government, and key southern provinces. The fighting stopped when the two groups reached a deal in November. Hadrami claimed the governors of Shabwa, Socotra, Mahrah and Hadramout had all rejected the STC declaration. However, in Aden on Sunday the STC seized all the major institutions including the port.
Sunday’s announcement by the separatists raises concerns that Yemen could slide further into chaos amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Yemen so far has reported only one confirmed case, in the southern province of Hadramawt, but experts and health workers have warned the disease could wreak havoc there due to the dilapidated health system and damaged infrastructure. The STC’s move, if it takes root, will complicate international efforts to start reconciliation talks as well as any coordinated effort to stave off an outbreak of coronavirus.
The separatist movement has been pressing for years for greater autonomy and recognition in any national peace talks. Last year the STC rebelled against the UN-recognised government and seized Aden, and violence spilled over into territory to the west of the city.
Saudi Arabia brokered a deal between the two sides on 5 November to form a more inclusive government and place all forces under state control, but the agreement, involving a withdrawal of forces, has hardly been implemented.
For five years Riyadh has been using its air power in an attempt to reinstate the Hadi government to power across the country by defeating an Iranian-supported Houthi rebellion.
But in recent months Riyadh, faced by the division within the ranks of the forces it backs in Yemen and its own inability to win militarily, has been sending signals that it wants to end the war if the Houthis will compromise.
On Friday Saudi Arabia announced it was extending its two-week-old, thinly observed unilateral ceasefire by a four weeks, in a move welcomed by the UK and the UN special envoy Martin Griffiths.
Griffiths says he has been trying to convene virtual talks to forge “a permanent comprehensive and mutually agreed ceasefire”, but says this requires the cooperation of all sides.
The STC, which has said it wants to be included in any political negotiations, pulled out of committees implementing the Riyadh deal in January. The STC says the Hadi government is gripped by corruption and continually refuses to pay salaries of public-sector staff.
The UAE, which like STC opposes the Islamist Islah party that forms part of Hadi’s government in the south, has withdrawn its forces from Yemen over the past 12 months but retains ambitions to control commercial ports across the south. The UAE regards the Islah party as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which it opposes across the Middle East.