The separatists in southern Yemen have pledged to abandon their aspirations for self-government and implement a Saudi-negotiated power-exchange deal with the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The announcement of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Wednesday marked a major step toward closing a major front in Yemen’s chaotic war, and came hours after Saudi Arabia unveiled a plan to “speed up” the stalled implementation. of the peace agreement.
Signed in the Saudi capital Riyadh in November last year, the deal set the stage for the end of a long-running rivalry between the Saudi-backed Hadi government and the UAE-backed southern separatists. Both sides are suspected allies in the Saudi Arabian-led military coalition’s war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the country’s capital Sanaa.
The Riyadh agreement stipulated the formation of a new unity government within 30 days and the appointment of a new governor and security director for Aden, an STC stronghold and the interim seat of the Hadi government.
It also specified, among others, the centralization of all armed groups under government control.
But the deal was never implemented, and in April the separatists declared self-government and took control of Aden, a move that sparked fierce fighting in southern Yemen and the Socotra archipelago.
The clash between Saudi Arabia and the respective UAE allies in Yemen has threatened to destroy the coalition and has complicated broader peace efforts to end the five-year conflict, which killed tens of thousands of people and created the worst humanitarian disaster of the world.
“We have achieved our goals,” STC spokesman Nizar Haitham said Wednesday in a Twitter post.
“The Southern Transitional Council announces the abandonment of the self-administration statement to allow the Arab alliance to implement the Riyadh agreement,” he said.
The move followed intervention by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, said Haitham, who continued to affirm “the continuation and deepening” of the “STC’s strategic partnership with the Arab coalition.”
Saudi proposal
Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi plan had established commitments that have been obstacles for months, such as the formation of a government made up of 24 ministers with equal representation for northerners and southerners, including separatists.
He also called for the withdrawal of rival forces from Aden and the hot spot in the southern province of Abyan, and gave current Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed the mandate to form a government next month.
Shortly after the STC’s promise to rescind self-government, Yemen’s state news agency SABA appointed the newly appointed security director and governor of Aden, Ahmed al-Amlas.
Rajih Badi, a spokesman for the Hadi government, welcomed the Saudi initiative and expressed hope that the separatists will fulfill their promise to implement the agreement “in the necessary and urgent national interest.”
Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister, said that “the efforts of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman” have been successful “in implementing the Riyadh agreement” and achieving lasting peace, security and prosperity for Yemen. “
The rapprochement comes as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have tried to pull away from their war with the Houthi rebels, bringing millions to the brink of famine and stalling into a bloody stalemate.
Saudi Arabia announced a unilateral ceasefire earlier this year, which quickly collapsed. Last summer, the United Arab Emirates announced that it would end its role in the conflict, although it continues to exert influence through its representatives, such as the separatist group.
Mahjoob Zweiri, director of the Gulf Studies Center in Doha, Qatar, said Wednesday’s events indicate that “all parties are tired and exhausted by this conflict.”
However, it cast doubt on the implementation of the Riyadh agreement.
“Riyadh and Abu Dhabi disagree 100 percent on how things should move,” he told Al Jazeera. [And] Not only these two countries can decide the situation in Yemen. They also need the international community on board, including the United Nations, Iran. But none of these players have confidence in [Saudi and the UAE]”
He added: “There is no long-term vision. There are different parties with different agendas and there is no agreement on where things should go.”
Human Rights Watch in November also criticized the Riyadh deal, saying it failed to address serious human rights violations, including the arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance of dozens of people.
Grim warning
Wednesday’s events come as Yemen’s devastated health sector faces a major outbreak of coronavirus and the country faces a drastic shortage of humanitarian aid that has forced 75 percent of UN programs to end or curtail operations.
On Tuesday, the UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, painted a grim picture of the situation in Yemen before the Security Council.
UN-mediated peace negotiations between the rebels and the government have failed to reach an agreement, he said.
Griffiths said the Houthi forces were fiercely pushing into the oil-rich Marib province, “with profound humanitarian and economic consequences,” while missile attacks in the northwest have killed civilians, many of whom were children. .
Yemen’s economy is collapsing, he continued, food prices are rising and, to make matters worse, an abandoned oil tanker tied up on the coast and loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil is at risk of rupture or explosion. .
“I do not want to sweeten things up,” Griffiths said, warning that the country could fall at any time into “a new phase of prolonged escalation, uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 and economic decline.”
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