The Southern Transitional Council (STC) held a meeting and denounced the worldwide rejection of their self-administration declaration and reaffirmed their announcement, according to a statement on the group’s website.

Ahmed Saeed Bin Buraik, the acting head of the UAE-backed STC, met with a number of former ministers of defense and retired southern military leaders Wednesday to discuss events and development on southern Yemen.

The statement called the worldwide condemnation of its declaration “vicious,” noting that the declaration was  made in the interests of the people of the south and not designed to harm any party. The statement welcomed proposals within the framework of preserving the south. 

To justify their self-administration announcement, the statement said that four governorates – Marib, Al-Mahra, Shabwa and Socotra – were already largely self-administered, and that the STC sought to add Abyan, Aden, Lahj and Al-Dhale to the same model. Self-administration would only continue until the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, according to the statement.

"The meeting confirmed that the decision of self-administration by the leadership of the Council at the moment came in order to move the stagnant water in the process of the Riyadh agreement, which is stalled by the government," the statement said.

The council also discussed salaries and how itl would pay them during Ramadan and thereafter, including six months of back pay owed to soldiers. 

The STC dismissed the recent protests in Aden who demanded basic services such as electricity and blamed the Islah party for inciting them. 

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Edited by Ahlam Mohsen and Casey Coombs