Separatists decide to go with peace deal

Yemen’s leading separatist group will abandon its aspirations for self-rule to implement a stalled peace deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, it announced early yesterday in a major step towards closing a dangerous rift between nominal allies in the chaotic proxy war.

Nizar Haitham, a spokesman for the separatists’ Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of militias backed by the United Arab Emirates, said the separatists would give up their dreams of autonomy over southern Yemen to pursue the Riyadh agreement.

‘‘We have achieved our goals,’’ said Haitham, noting that the announcement had come under intense pressure from

Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The power-sharing deal, signed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh last autumn, sets the stage to end a long-running rivalry between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Emirati-backed southern separatists. The agreement was thrown into disarray earlier this year, when the separatists seized control of the southern port city of Aden. – AP