Defiant to Peace, STC Announces Self-Ruled Administration Southern Yemen

This dawn, the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen announced that it would establish a self-ruled administration in the areas under their control, which the internationally recognized government said would have “catastrophic consequences” for a November peace agreement.

According to the peace deal which was inked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to end the power struggle, the Southern Transitional Council and other areas of southern Yemen were supposed to join a new national government and put all forces under the control of the internationally recognized government.

The deal aimed to create a new, cohesive government capable of challenging the Iranian-backed Houthi forces that control the capital, Sana’a, and the north.

The clashes between separatists and government forces – who for years fought on the same side against the Houthis – had raised fears that the country could break apart entirely.

"The Southern Transitional Council announces a self administration rule in the south, as of midnight Saturday, April 25th 2020", a statement by the STC said early on Sunday.

The statement also noted the imposition of a state of emergency in the city of Aden and all the southern governorates.

Witnesses told Reuters that a heavy security deployment of the armed forces of the Transitional Council was in Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which was ousted by Iranian-backed Houthis from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

On the other hand, Yemen's Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami said in a statement posted by the ministry on Twitter: "The announcement by the so-called transitional council of its intention to establish a southern administration is a resumption of its armed insurgency... and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement."

"The so-called transitional council will bear alone the dangerous and catastrophic consequences for such an announcement," the statement added.