Yemen’s internationally-recognized government said Sunday evening that the Southern Transitional Council’s (STC) declaration of “self-administration” in southern Yemen amounts to a “rebellion” against the government and a blow to the Riyadh Agreement. Yemen’s parliament also announced its “unequivocal rejection” of the STC’s declaration.

The STC’s announcement of self-administration is “a blow to all efforts made for months to implement the Riyadh Agreement, and to address the repercussions of the armed rebellion that the STC launched in early August, with support from the UAE,” the government said.

“We hold the STC and its leaders in Abu Dhabi fully responsible for the failure to implement the terms of the Riyadh Agreement, ending with a complete coup d'état against state institutions in the interim capital Aden through their statement issued on Saturday, April 25, 2020, and signed by STC President Aidarous Al-Zubaidi,” the government’s statement reads.

In the STC’s declaration, Al-Zubaidi announced the separatist group’s “self-administration of the South from midnight on Saturday.” Al-Zubaidi also declared a “state of emergency in the capital Aden and all of the southern governorates” and mandated southern military and security forces to implement “self-administration” immediately. The STC president, in addition to many other members in the STC leadership, is based in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi. 

By mid-day Sunday, local authorities from Hadhramout, Shabwa, Al-Mahrah, Lahj, Abyan, and Socotra all announced their rejection of the STC’s declaration, labelling it a “coup d'état” against the government and the Riyadh Agreement.

In its statement Sunday evening, the government also referenced “the state of national consensus from all governorates, particularly the local authorities in the southern governorates, all parties and political components, and all the Yemeni people in different governorates, who affirmed their rejection of these reckless steps.”

Shortly following the government’s statement, later on Sunday evening Yemen’s internationally-recognized parliament issued a statement of its own, stating that the parliamentarians “reject unequivocally” the announcement of any form of government in the southern governorates.

“The parliament considers the statement issued by the STC yesterday a declaration of withdrawal from the Riyadh Agreement and undermining the efforts of our brothers in Saudi Arabia and friends in the international community to lay the foundations of security and peace.” 

Both statements also call for Saudi Arabia and other allies to support the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement and the territorial integrity of the country.

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Edited by Alkhatab Alrawhani