UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) yesterday rejected recent appointments by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to the two state oil companies.
On Saturday, Hadi appointed Ammar Nasser Al-Awlaki as the new general manager for the National Oil Company, and Mohammed Yaslam as an executive director for Aden Refinery Company.
“STC rejects Hadi’s decisions and all their consequences,” the separatist group’s spokesperson, Ali Al-Kathiri, said on Twitter, adding that the decisions violated the Riyadh Agreement, while “further impeding efforts to complete its implementation”.
On Tuesday, Oil Minister, Abdulsalam Baaboud, assigned Saleh Al-Jariri to run the Aden Oil Company. He took over from the city’s Governor, Ahmed Lamlas.
Under the Saudi and UN-sponsored deal signed on 5 November 2019 between the legitimate Yemeni government and the STC, a power-sharing government was established. However no further progress has been made with regards the military and the integration of militias into the national army.
The STC still has military and security control over Aden and other areas in the south of Yemen.
Impoverished Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis ousted the government from power in the capital of Sanaa in late 2014. The group still controls most major urban centres despite years of war.
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