Yemen’s STC says delegation in Riyadh disappeared onto bus and all contact lost

Southern separatists in Yemen have lost contact with dozens of officials who were in Saudi Arabia for talks, a senior official has said. 

Amr al-Bidh, a senior foreign affairs official for the Southern Transitional Council (STC), told Middle East Eye that the group had not heard from its delegation since 3am local time. 

Bidh said during a media briefing on Wednesday that a source who was on the plane but not part of the delegation told the official that the delegation was put on a bus by authorities in Riyadh and not seen since. 

After the STC said earlier on Wednesday that it had lost contact with the delegation, a post appeard on the X account of Mohammed al-Gaithi, a senior STC official, which said that he had arrived in the Saudi capital “in a positive atmosphere” and would begin a series of meetings. 

However, Bidh said that family members of the delegation had heard nothing from their relatives, and had also reached out to Saudi authorities – who did not respond.

STC officials believe that the phones of their colleagues have been confiscated.

This is a developing story…