STC Plans to Negotiate Secession with Houthis
Photo credit: AP
A leading secessionist figure in South Yemen said Friday that separating from North Yemen is still a priority, and they will begin talks with the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group to discuss this matter.
The head of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, said in an interview in New York, where he attended the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, “It is our right to return to the borders of before 1990.”
Al-Zubaidi told the Associated Press, “We are asking for the return of the southern state, with complete sovereignty, and this will happen through beginning negotiations with the Houthis, and the negotiations will be, surely, long. This is the goal of our strategy for negotiations with the Houthis.”
He indicated that his people will decide and be able to vote in a referendum for alternatives, including a single federal government, in accordance with international law.
In May 2015, South and North Yemen merged as one country based on political agreements between the leaders of both states at the time. The tensions between the South and North kept magnifying since the 1994 war, which broke out due to disputes between southern and northern leaders.
The Houthi takeover of Sanaa and its war in the south in 2015 caused a heavy blow to the country’s unity, and multitudes of southerners began to lose hope in healing the unity between the south and north.
Southern separatists have argued that their demand for secession does not violate anyone’s right. Al-Zubaidi said, “I am in New York and meters away from the headquarters of the United Nations, and we are only asking for what is stated under the laws the United Nations made and on which it was founded.”
In May 2017, AlZubaidi declared the formation of the STC, a political and military body with military and financial support from the United Arab Emirates. The STC has taken over all southern provinces except for Al-Mahra and Hadramout.
While the separatists have utilized military force to deepen their control and expand their presence in the south, they are ready today to negotiate with the Houthis to finalize an agreement on borders between the north and south.
However, the Houthis have repeatedly said Yemen’s unity is “a red line”, pledging to continuetheir fight until they liberate the country from foreign forces and their Yemeni mercenaries. From the Houthi viewpoint, Al-Zubaidi is a mercenary employed by the UAE.
Abu Ali, a Houthi supervisor in Dhale, a southern province on the border between the south and north, told Sheba Intelligence that talks between Ansar Allah and southern separatists are possible. “However, talks should not be about separation. This idea is totally rejected, and Ansar Allah will not accept to be a reason for officially ending the country’s unity.”
Houthis have become a difficult military enemy for their local and regional opponents. In April of this year, Saudi Arabia began public talks with the Houthis, attempting to find a political solution to the conflict in Yemen after seven years of its ineffective military involvement in Yemen. On September 14, a Houthi delegation traveled to Riyadh for the first time since their takeover of power in Sanaa to talk with senior Saudi officials.
With its military might and massive financial capabilities, Saudi Arabia prefers to engage in talks with the Houthis to be safe from their threats. So, separatists, with their humble military force and limited financial capabilities, see dialogue with Houthis as the ideal way to regain the independence of the southern state.
