Yemen’s STC denies disbanded and says it cannot be done ‘under duress’

An official from the  Southern Transitional Council (STC) has rejected Saudi claims that the Yemeni separatist group has been disbanded, saying such a move could not be done under “duress.”

Saudi state media said on Friday that members of STC, the leading Yemeni southern separatist organisation, had agreed to dissolve the group.

The Ekhbariya TV report claimed the move had been agreed by an STC delegation in Riyadh that travelled to the Saudi capital for talks aimed at weeks of bloodshed and unrest in southern Yemen.

The UAE-backed leader of STC, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, has reportedly fled Yemen and is not taking part in the talks.

Senior STC official Amr al-Bidh previously told Middle East Eye that the delegation had been put on a bus after arriving in Riyadh and were subsequently out of contact. He said they suspected the delegates’ phones had been confiscated.

On Friday, Mohamed Alsahimi, the STC’s representative to the UK, denied to MEE that the group had been disbanded, saying that it required both the approval of the council and Zubaidi, who Saudi Arabia has accused of fleeing to Abu Dhabi via Somaliland with Emirati help.

Alsahimi added that the delegation in Riyadh was effectively being held in detention by the Saudis, having lost contact with them on Wednesday.

“This can not be done under duress. This will be done when the STC delegation in Riyadh is released,” Alsahimi said.

“We will engage constructively with all political initiatives to allow the south to determine its future.”

The STC has seen its power evaporate in southern Yemen over the past week, even losing control of its erstwhile stronghold of Aden.

Saudi-backed forces entered the Aden governorate on Wednesday and the local Giants Forces seized control of the city, pledging allegiance to the STC’s rivals and flying the national flag of Yemen on official buildings for the first time in years.

More to follow…