Saudi-led coalition rejects south Yemen self-rule declaration
Published Apr 27, 2020 12:00 am
By Agence France-Presse
The Saudi-led military coalition in war-torn Yemen on Monday rejected a declaration of self-rule by separatists in the country's south and demanded "an end to any escalatory actions".
Fighters with Yemen's Southern Transitional Council drive past a separatist flag -- the flag of the former nation of South Yemen -- in the city of Aden (AFP / Saleh Al-OBEIDI/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The breakaway declaration made Sunday threatens to reignite a "war within a war" in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest nation that is already gripped by what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
The secessionists' move significantly complicates the country's five-year-old wider conflict, fought by the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control much of the north.
Yemen's separatists in the south, which used to be a separate country, have repeatedly agitated to break away again -- a campaign that was temporarily put to rest with a power-sharing deal signed in Riyadh last November.
But on Sunday the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self-rule in southern Yemen, accusing the government of failing to perform its duties and of "conspiring" against the southern cause.
Residents of the southern city of Aden reported heavy deployments of STC forces, and a separatist source told AFP they had set up checkpoints "at all government facilities, including the central bank and port of Aden".
The Yemeni government condemned the move and warned it could lead to a "catastrophic and dangerous" outcome.
The coalition said, according to Saudi Press Agency tweets, that "we re-emphasise the need to promptly implement the Riyadh Agreement".
AFP / Mohamed Abdelhakim
The STC secessionists believe the south should be an independent state -- as it was before unification in 1990
"The coalition demands an end to any escalatory actions and calls for return to the agreement by the participating parties."
Key coalition partner the United Arab Emirates, which has supported the STC, also stressed the importance of abiding by the Riyadh pact.
"Frustration over delay in implementing the agreement is not a reason to unilaterally change the situation," UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.
"We have full confidence in Saudi Arabia's keenness to implement the agreement."
Fighters with Yemen's Southern Transitional Council drive past a separatist flag -- the flag of the former nation of South Yemen -- in the city of Aden (AFP / Saleh Al-OBEIDI/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The breakaway declaration made Sunday threatens to reignite a "war within a war" in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest nation that is already gripped by what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
The secessionists' move significantly complicates the country's five-year-old wider conflict, fought by the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control much of the north.
Yemen's separatists in the south, which used to be a separate country, have repeatedly agitated to break away again -- a campaign that was temporarily put to rest with a power-sharing deal signed in Riyadh last November.
But on Sunday the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self-rule in southern Yemen, accusing the government of failing to perform its duties and of "conspiring" against the southern cause.
Residents of the southern city of Aden reported heavy deployments of STC forces, and a separatist source told AFP they had set up checkpoints "at all government facilities, including the central bank and port of Aden".
The Yemeni government condemned the move and warned it could lead to a "catastrophic and dangerous" outcome.
The coalition said, according to Saudi Press Agency tweets, that "we re-emphasise the need to promptly implement the Riyadh Agreement".
AFP / Mohamed Abdelhakim
The STC secessionists believe the south should be an independent state -- as it was before unification in 1990
"The coalition demands an end to any escalatory actions and calls for return to the agreement by the participating parties."
Key coalition partner the United Arab Emirates, which has supported the STC, also stressed the importance of abiding by the Riyadh pact.
"Frustration over delay in implementing the agreement is not a reason to unilaterally change the situation," UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.
"We have full confidence in Saudi Arabia's keenness to implement the agreement."