Yemen separatists in Riyadh announce disputed 'dissolution'

RYAD, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - A delegation of Yemeni separatists allegedly held in Riyadh said their movement was dissolving Friday (Jan 9) after a failed land grab that infuriated Saudi Arabia, but the announcement was dismissed as made under duress by their colleagues based in the UAE.

Southern Transitional Council secretary general Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, part of a high-level delegation that the STC says has been "arbitrarily detained" by Saudi authorities, read a prepared statement on Saudi TV.

The announcement escalates a rapidly evolving situation after the UAE-backed STC's offensive in southern Yemen was put down by Saudi military power, exposing a rift between the powerful Gulf allies.

"We announce the dissolution of the Southern Transitional Council," said the statement, which was also carried by the Saudi-sponsored Yemeni government's news agency.

It pledged their "commitment to working towards achieving our just southern goal through preparations for a comprehensive southern conference under the auspices of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".

Saudi officials have not commented on the group's status. Other Yemeni officials shown in the TV footage, sitting behind long tables in a conference room, appeared sombre.

But STC officials outside the kingdom signalled that the move had been made under duress.

STC vice president Hani bin Breik, who is based in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, slammed the announcement in a statement on X as a "political farce".

He said the decision was taken "under pressure and coercion by an STC team shackled by the restrictions of house arrest".

SAUDI CONSOLIDATES POWER

STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi, who is also in Abu Dhabi, dismissed the statement as "ridiculous" in a message to AFP, while another STC statement also dismissed the dissolution and called for the delegation to be freed.

"Decisions concerning the Southern Transitional Council can only be made by the council in its entirety, under the chairmanship of the president," the statement said.

"This will take place immediately upon the release of the Southern Transitional Council delegation currently in Riyadh."

The announcement from Riyadh appears to be an attempt to consolidate Saudi control in south Yemen, where Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have long backed rival factions.

The STC "was Abu Dhabi’s largest political and military investment in Yemen", according to Mohammed al-Basha of the US-based risk advisory Basha Report.

"With Saudi Arabia now having effectively pushed the UAE out of the country... it is not surprising to me or to other observers that Riyadh would seek to ensure the disbandment and banning of the STC," he said.

The STC had become "the primary symbol of UAE presence and leverage in Yemen", he added.

Subaihi is among a 50-plus delegation that has been incommunicado since arriving in Riyadh in the early hours of Wednesday, according to other STC officials.

The delegation was summoned to Riyadh after the STC seized swathes of south Yemen territory last month before being repelled by Saudi warplanes and pro-Saudi forces.

ZUBAIDI SKIPS TALKS

The STC announcement echoes another incident in 2017 when Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri resigned in a televised address from Riyadh, where he was speculated to be under house arrest.

After French intervention, Hariri returned to Lebanon and rescinded his resignation.

Yemeni separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi was meant to travel with the delegation to Riyadh this week, but pulled out of the trip after learning that Saudi Arabia would ask him to dissolve the STC, an official from the group told AFP.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Zubaidi fled to Abu Dhabi with UAE help on Wednesday, while the STC insisted he was still in Aden.

Since then, he has been ousted from the eight-member presidential body that heads the Yemeni government.

The oil-rich UAE and Saudi Arabia formed the backbone of the coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who overran the capital Sanaa in 2014 and still control much of the country.

Saudi Arabia supports Yemen's government, now based in Aden, while the UAE threw its weight behind the STC, which forms part of the Presidential Leadership Council and commands potent paramilitary forces.