South Yemen separatists reject Riyadh Agreement, call for full independence of the South

The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) has Sunday said that it is “no longer bound to implement the Riyadh agreement, especially after Hadi’s government renounced its obligations under the agreement.”

The STC stressed its determination to achieve the restoration of what it called the Southern State.

STC President Aidarous al-Zubaidi confirmed, during a meeting with a number of the council members in the occupied city of Aden, that the declaration of what he called the southern state “has become a reality today.” He called for an official recognition from the international and regional community of the separatist plan which he seeks to achieve.

Al-Zubaidi said that the transitional council is the “main carrier of the southern issue” and that its “goal is to restore the southern state with its full sovereignty,” referring to the territory of South Yemen, which was an independent country between 1967 and 1990.

He pointed out that the Riyadh agreement has “strengthened the southern issue and contributed to the world’s recognition of the transitional council as a representative of the people of the south.”

Observers considered that al-Zubaidi’s remarks are a dangerous indicator foreshadowing military confrontations in the southern provinces between the STC militias, backed by the UAE, and Saudi-backed Islah Party militias.

South Yemen, officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen (DPRY) became independent after driving out British colonists in 1967, and existed until merging with the Yemen Arab Republic in 1990.

While the DPRY was a Marxist-Leninist state led by the Yemeni Socialist Party, the current separatist project for southern Yemen is being led by UAE-backed nationalists with no progressive agenda.