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Government, STC forces continue withdrawal from Yemen's Abyan

December 14, 2020 at 3:01 pm

A fighter loyal to Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) holds the separatist flag in the southern Abyan province on 15 May 2020 [NABIL HASAN/AFP/Getty Images]

For the third consecutive day, Yemeni government troops and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces continue to evacuate the southern province of Abyan.

On Friday, the Yemeni and STC forces began a mutual withdrawal from Abyan under a Saudi Arabia-brokered agreement that was signed by the two rivals in November 2019.

An STC military source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity that the withdrawal operations were “reciprocal”, adding that the Yemeni forces’ “30 and 21 brigades have withdrawn from the Qarn Al-Kalasi area in the Shoqra city.”

While the number of military personnel present in Abyan from the two sides is unknown, the source pointed out that a total of five brigades from each army had withdrawn by Sunday.

“On Monday, the forces’ withdrawal from the battle field will be completed, especially after the Saudi-led coalition’s deployment of its forces last Friday to inspect the area,” the sources noted.

READ: Yemeni separatists withdraw Aden under Riyadh pact

“The process of separating the forces in Abyan and their exit from Aden continues under the direct supervision of the coalition,” Riyadh said in a statement.

On Thursday, the coalition announced that the Yemeni government and the STC had agreed to form a new government “within a week”.

The peace agreement comes following months of consultations in Riyadh to end tensions between both the Yemeni regime and the separtisites, and to form a new government.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthi group ousted the government from the capital city of Sanaa in late 2014. A military coalition led Saudi Arabia intervened in March 2015 to try to restore the government to power, but the Houthis still control most major urban centres. The United Nations has said that the conflict has left 80 per cent of the population, around 30 million people, on the brink of a famine.

READ: Saudi-backed Yemen government hails US sanctions on Houthi leaders