RIYADH: The Yemeni government said on Wednesday it would not hold talks with southern separatists unless they hand back control of Aden port, after the separatist chief arrived in Saudi Arabia to discuss the standoff between the nominal allies. Saudi Arabia, leader of a military coalition that includes the separatists, called for a summit after southern forces on August 10 took over Aden, interim seat of the government, in a move that fractured the alliance.
The Yemeni government and coalition partner the United Arab Emirates have traded blame over the crisis. Riyadh wants the alliance to resume its focus on fighting the Ansar Allah movement which has stepped up attacks on Saudi cities. “We will not participate in any dialogue with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) unless it withdraws for the sites it seized, hands over weapons, allows government forces to return and ends all its violations,” said a foreign ministry statement. The separatist STC has refused earlier similar calls and on Tuesday it extended its grip on the south by seizing government military camps in nearby Abyan.
STC leader Aidaroos al Zubaidi, arrived in the Saudi city of Jeddah that evening. Both sides are part of the alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Ansar Allah fighters, who ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. His government rebased to Aden while Hadi resides in Riyadh. However the separatists, who accuse Hadi’s government of mismanagement, are demanding self-rule in the south and a say in any talks regarding Yemen’s future.
The STC said it would hold Aden until elements of the hardline Islah and northerners are removed from power positions in the south.
Yemeni sources have said the delayed Saudi summit could discuss reshuffling Hadi’s government to include the STC, which took over Aden after accusing Islah, a key Hadi ally, of being complicit in an Ansar Allah assault on southern forces earlier this month. The Islah party denies the charge.
Ansar Allah fighters, who say they are fighting a corrupt system, point to Aden as proof that Hadi is unfit to rule. The group holds Sanaa and most other big urban centres. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. — Reuters
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