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UK envoy: UAE-backed Yemen forces must end self-rule declaration

June 11, 2020 at 9:22 am

A UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) soldier stops cars at a security checkpoint in Yemen on 4 September 2019 [SALEH AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images]

Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) must end its declaration of self-rule in Aden so that the legitimate government can return to the city, the British Ambassador Michael Aron told the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

Aron called on the UAE-backed STC, the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government and the Houthi group to show “greater responsibility” since the country is going through a “very, very bad” situation, and he expressed hope that a settlement would be reached soon.

He described as “positive” the consultations that United Nations Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths is currently having with the Houthis.

READ: Saudi Arabia’s puppet Yemen government is hanging by a thread 

The British diplomat is also optimistic about efforts to implement the Riyadh Agreement between the legitimate government and the STC.

“He spoke of the need for ‘flexibility’ from both parties, saying that Saudi Arabia has a good plan,” according to Asharq Al-Awsat.

In late 2014, the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and seized control of the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military to reverse Houthi gains putting together an Arab coalition which included the UAE. However, it has been found that the Emirates is also backing the STC in an effort to establish an independent South Yemen.