Al-Sharq al-Awast newspaper quoted a Saudi source as saying that the Yemeni government and the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) have reached a Saudi-sponsored agreement, which will be signed in Riyadh soon,

"The Saudi-led coalition will oversee a joint committee that will follow up on the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement," the source said, adding: "A government of political competence will be formed with 24 ministers in half among the southern provinces appointed by the Yemeni president."

"The agreement focused on unifying the ranks and activating state institutions to serve Yemen with all its components and meet the living needs of citizens," he said.

"The agreement includes a focus on managing state resources, fighting corruption, collecting state revenues, transparency of exchange, activating oversight and accounting bodies, and reshaping and activating the Supreme Economic Council, activating it and strengthening it with competent, experienced and impartial personalities," he said.

"The agreement achieves the re-arrangements of military and security forces in the southern provinces, thereby contributing to security and stability, preserving the security of state institutions and all components of the Yemeni people, and strengthening efforts to combat terrorism," the source said.

He said the current prime minister will return to Aden, according to the agreement, "to activate all state institutions, and work on the disbursement of salaries and financial dues to the military and civil sectors in all liberated Yemeni provinces, and the new government will be formed and its work will begin soon in Aden."

The source explained that the agreement achieves security and stability in Yemen and serves the Yemeni people with all its components, and respects the demands of all Yemeni components, including with regard to the southern issue, and that this is through dialogue and political action, and that the Kingdom respects all components of the Yemeni people and what they agree on with all their components in the future."

He stressed that the Kingdom "appreciates all parties' response and cooperation to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis and an agreement that presents the strategic interests of Yemen, contributes to the achievement of its security and stability, and save blood and prevails wisdom, dialogue and unity of class, as the Kingdom values the positive role played by the UAE in reaching an agreement."

He said Saudi Arabia "has provided political, military, development and relief support to support the Yemeni people in all provinces to restore the state and end Iranian intervention and fight terrorism."

For its part, Al-Jazeera quoted a Yemeni government source as saying that the agreement provides for the formation of a government of unity equally between north and south, the integration of military and security formations in the structures of the ministries of defense and interior, and the return of the government to Aden to activate state institutions, as well as the formation of a joint committee led by Saudi Arabia to implement agreed terms.