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A new alliance between Yemen’s government and southern separatists aims to end their struggle for power in the civil war country. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi swore in the 24 ministers of the newly formed government on Saturday. It is made up of representatives from both the North and the South and follows an agreement that the conflicting parties agreed to in Saudi Arabia in 2019.
The government must mainly deal with the huge economic problems and the collapse of the currency. The Hadi government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatists are actually fighting together against the Houthi rebels who invaded the country in 2014. But their alliance was fragile. The STC was founded in 2017 and calls for a new northern separation (the north and south of Yemen had merged into one state in 1990) grew louder.
Supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
The STC is supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hadi’s government primarily by Saudi Arabia. The power struggle had sparked months of violence and political unrest in the country’s southern provinces and weakened the alliance in the fight against the Houthis. The separatists had brought the important port city of Aden under their control, expelled the government there and proclaimed self-government at times.
After the Houthis came to power in northern Yemen, Hadi fled into exile in Saudi Arabia. On Saturday the swearing-in ceremony of the new government also took place there. “You come from different blocs and areas, but the country and its citizens should be your main concern,” Hadi said, according to the state news agency Saba. “We are in a new stage and we trust you to act as a team.”
Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula is one of the poorest countries in the world. The civil war, in which a Saudi-led alliance has been fighting the Houthis since 2015, has significantly increased the suffering of the people. 24 million people, about 80 percent of the population, now depend on humanitarian aid. (apa, dpa)
