Other government institutions are preparing to hand over revenue to the STC, as part of the council’s move toward self-administration in Aden and surrounding governorates
STC forces government to hand over $1 billion Yemen riyals
[ Ahmed Bin Buraik (second from left), chairman of the STC's Committee for Self-Administration of the South, ordered the funds transfers. ]
A number of governmental institutions in the interim capital of Aden are planning to hand over their revenue to the Southern Transitional Council (STC), according to sources with knowledge of the matter in the government-controlled branches of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Yemen and other institutions. The development comes one day after the STC received over $1 billion Yemeni riyals (about $1.54 million*) in customs revenue, according to the Finance Ministry source not authorized to speak to the press.
Officials at the Port of Aden, Port of Zeit (oil) and the local tax authority have started accounting for the financial revenue and plan to deliver the funds to the STC through special accounts opened by the Finance Ministry office in Aden, according to the sources. The customs department is also preparing to handover more revenue, the sources said.
The STC has indicated that it may take strong measures against those who refuse to hand over government revenues in Aden. Sources said that STC-affiliated officials in these institutions have been tasked with monitoring the delivery of financial revenues and to report any resistance from within.
The collection of revenue is part of the council’s implementation of self-administration, which it announced on April 25 as part of a declaration of a state of emergency in southern governorates following severe flooding. The declaration has stalled, if not derailed, implementation of the Saudi-brokered Riyadh Agreement which seeks to incorporate the pro-secession STC into the internationally recognized government in Aden.
A document circulating in the media showed the head of Aden governorate’s financial office directing the head of the National Bank to give the STC access to the accounts of all government institutions.
The finance director's orders were based on a memorandum from Ahmed Bin Buraik, chairman of both the National Assembly of the STC and the Committee for Self-Administration of the South.
* Currency calculation based on a conversion rate of 650 Yemeni riyals per $1.
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Edited by Ahlam Mohsen and Casey Coombs
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