Peace talks suspended
FIGHTING resumed in southern Yemen between Emirati-backed separatists and the internationally recognised government, officials said yesterday.
The renewed violence comes after the separatists suspended participation in talks to implement a Saudi-brokered peace deal.
The secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC), an umbrella group of militias backed by the United Arab Emirates, said on Tuesday it informed Saudi Arabia of the suspension, accusing the government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi of mobilising forces in the southern province of Abyan.
The separatists’ announcement could thwart Saudi efforts to close a year-long rift amid a broader war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Government forces allegedly have killed more than 75 separatist fighters in the flashpoint province of Abyan since June 22, when the two sides agreed to a cease-fire after months of infighting, the STC said. The secessionist group also accused the government of not paying salaries and pensions in the southern provinces, particularly for military and security personnel.
Hours after the announcement, fighting resumed overnight between the separatists and government forces in Abyan, where Saudi-led coalition deployed troops in June to observe the cease-fire, officials from both sides said.
The secessionist council, comprised of heavily armed and well-financed militias propped up by the UAE since 2015, hopes to restore an independent southern Yemen, which existed from 1967 until unification in 1990.
The group declared self-rule over the key port city Aden and other southern provinces in April, before it abandoned its aspirations for self-rule late in July to implement the stalled peace agreement with Hadi’s government.
The power-sharing deal, signed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh last fall, sets the stage to end a long-running rivalry between the two sides. The agreement was never implemented.
Saudi Arabia last month proposed a plan to “accelerate” the deal’s implementation, which calls for the creation of a new government within 30 days and the appointment of a new governor and security director for Aden.