Protest rally in Aden rejects dissolution
Thousands of Yemenis rallied Saturday in the southern city of Aden in support of the Southern Transitional Council, a day after it dissolved itself following clashes with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, the Associated Press reported. The demonstrators gathered in Aden’s Khor Maksar district, where the city’s international airport is located.
Armed groups loyal to the STC secured the protest area, an Associated Press journalist reported from Khor Maksar. Protesters chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni international government, according to the report.
Supporters wave southern Yemen flags, posters of al-Zubaidi
Some protesters waved flags of southern Yemen, which was an independent state between 1967 and 1990. Some also held posters showing STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who the report said fled Aden to the UAE earlier this month, citing footage aired by STC media.
One protester, Fadl Mahomed, said he took part to show support for the STC, for al-Zubaidi, and for the re-establishment of an independent state in southern Yemen. Mahomed said, “We will remain in the squares until the restoration of the state of South Arabia,” and the report added that he was referring to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, an independent state until its 1990 unification with northern Yemen.
Organizers reject dissolution; government adviser calls for dialogue
The protest organizers said in a statement that they rejected the dissolution of the STC and called for the establishment of an independent state in southern Yemen. The rally also came amid statements from figures connected to Yemen’s presidential council.
Former Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, who serves as an adviser to the chairman of the presidential council, called for dialogue to absorb those who were not involved in crimes into the military and security agencies “on the basis of law and partnership, not exclusion,” the report said. He also wrote on X that “The page of the transitional council has been turned,” because of what he described as mistakes, corruption, arrogance and the use of force against the state and the people of the south.
Internal rifts within the separatist movement
The AP report described divisions within the separatist movement itself. Abdulrahman Jalal al-Sebaihi, secretary-general of the secessionist council, announced on Friday that the STC would shut down all bodies and offices inside and outside Yemen, citing internal disagreements and mounting regional pressure.
Anwar al-Tamimi, a spokesman for the council, contested the decision, writing on X that only the full council, under its president, can take such steps. The report said the disagreement highlighted internal divisions within the STC.
UAE-backed separatists link to wider Gulf tensions
The STC was established in April 2017 as an umbrella organization for groups seeking to restore southern Yemen as an independent state, and it received financial and military support from the United Arab Emirates, the AP said. The report also said al-Zubaidi was smuggled to Abu Dhabi through Somalia after Saudi Arabia reported that he declined to attend de-escalation talks in Riyadh, and that an STC delegation attended talks last week before announcing the dissolution.
Tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi exploded early last month, the report said, when UAE-backed forces took over the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra, seizing oil-rich areas and facilities. The report said the forces also seized the presidential palace in Aden, and that after weeks of Saudi-led de-escalation efforts, government forces backed by Saudi Arabia forced the separatists out of Hadramout, the palace in Aden and military camps in Mahra.
Yemen war context
The Associated Press said Yemen, at the strategic southern entrance of the Red Sea, has been mired in civil war for more than a decade, involving sectarian and tribal grievances as well as regional power dynamics. The report said the conflict intensified in 2014 when Houthi rebels backed by Iran seized Sanaa, prompting Yemen’s internationally recognized government to flee southward and then into exile in Saudi Arabia, and that a Saudi-led coalition including the UAE entered the war the following year to attempt to restore the government.
The AP report added that the war has been at a stalemate in recent years, with rebels reaching a deal with Saudi Arabia that stopped their attacks on the kingdom in return for an end to Saudi-led strikes on their territories.
— Magdy reported from Cairo.