UAE-backed Yemen militias prevent government meeting in Socotra

Militia forces loyal to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) yesterday prevented a government meeting from taking place in Socotra Governorate, southeastern Yemen, Anadolu reported.

The agency quoted the Director-General of Socotra’s capital, Hadibo Amjad Muhammad Thani, as saying that the so-called Security Belt Forces of the UAE-backed STC have prevented the general directors of the executive offices in the governorate from meeting and closed the headquarters of the Public Health and Population Office, prevented employees from working, and cut off the main street leading to the place where the meeting is scheduled to take place.”

There was no comment from the STC on the reasons for the action.

READ: Yemen STC withdraws from Riyadh consultations

Thani explained that government officials were scheduled to discuss the reasons for not paying civil servants their salaries for three consecutive months, explaining that the director of the National Bank branch in Socotra, which is affiliated to the STC, refuses to release the funds in the implementation of senior STC officials’ directives.

Earlier this month, the STC established an office in Socotra island to register Yemeni workers coming from outside the island as “foreigner” workers.

Local sources told Anadolu news agency at the time that the office records the data of Yemenis who come from outside Socotra, granting them work permits on the island, and treating them as foreigners despite their Yemeni nationality.