A source at Aden International Airport said that Prime Minister Maeen Abdul Malik arrived in Aden earlier today with the Ministers of Finance, Electricity, Endowments, Higher Education, Communications, and Local Administration. The governor of the Central Bank, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Secretary General of the Cabinet, deputy minister of Tourism, and a number of other government officials also accompanied the prime minister. .

The city's governor, Ahmed Salem Rubay’a Ali, and other local officials and military leaders lined up to greet the Prime Minister and his colleagues at the airport. Their return to the interim capital is five days behind schedule. 

The cabinets return to Aden comes nearly two weeks after the signing of the Riyadh agreement between the government and Southern Transitional Council. A principal clause of the Riyadh Agreement provided for the return of the Prime Minister within a week of the agreements signing. The aim of the return of the government is to pay salaries and begin providing basic services in Aden city, in which there is a strong presence of UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council forces.

Education Minister Abdullah Salem Lamlas complained that he had been banned from travelling to Aden. "Today they prevented us from returning home," he said in a post on his Facebook account. A new government comprised of all political parties, including the Southern Transitional Council is scheduled to be formed within a month of the signing the Riyadh agreement.

The government was forced to leave Aden after armed clashes between government and STC forces took place in August. These clashes resulted in STC forces taking control of government military camps, institutions and facilities through Aden.