West Should Accept Reality Of Divided Yemen Into Northern, Southern: Southern Transitional Council Cmdr.

ISWNews Analysis Group – The chairman of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and a member of the presidential council of the resigned Yemeni government, said in an interview with the English newspaper The Guardian that the West should accept a new reality in which northern Yemen is run by the Houthis (Ansar Allah Movement) and the south by the Southern Transitional Council.

Al-Zoubaidi said about coming talks on Yemen that the negotiation should have answers for the new reality of Yemen, especially for southern regions. The talks are mostly under Saudi supervision, which wants to find a way out of a war that is estimated to have left more than 250,000 dead.

The STC head assured Western countries that maritime lines, ports and oil fields in southern Yemen, which are strategically important, will be safe under the STC leadership. Al-Zoubaidi went on to say that he would apply all United Nations and international rules in the southern areas. He also warned if we are not there, the Houthis who are supported by Iran, would replace that area and they would be able to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is a vital waterway for international trade.

The head of the Southern Transitional Council also pledged to hold a referendum under the United Nations’ supervision and international law before the independence of the Southern region. He also announced his readiness to prepare voter lists and said he would cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes.

The goal of the Southern Transitional Council is to divide current Yemen and return to the borders of southern and northern Yemen, which was in place before the 1990s. Currently, the Southern Transitional Council is competing and fighting with other factions supported by the Saudi-led coalition, especially the Reform Party, the terrorist group al-Qaeda, Vice President of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Brigadier General Tariq Saleh and so on over the control of southern Yemen.

The Southern Transitional Council says they do not accept any political-religious movement, but the forces of Amaliqah, an extremist group of the residents in southern Yemen, are allied with the STC.

As a result of the improvement of Yemen peace talks, the officials of the Southern Transitional Council stepped up their efforts to achieve their demands, and therefore, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi has recently traveled to Britain to negotiate with Western states, and the result of the trip was a Chatham House meeting and interviews with prominent Western media outlets, including The Guardian newspaper.

The main supporter of the Southern Transitional Council in its path is Britain in the first place and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the second place. Saudi Arabia is not willing to accept the Southern Transitional Council, because it means that the Saudis imposed eight years of war against Yemen to eventually hand over control of northern and western regions to the Ansar Allah Movement and the southern regions to the Southern Transitional Council.

Thus, Saudi Arabia is trying to form the “Hadhramaut Council” to discourage the Southern Transitional Council from controlling Hadramout Governorate and balance the scene with the power of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah, as well as Al-Dara Al-Watan in Aden, Marib and Shabwa and in inaccessible areas of Abyan and Shabwa governorates with the use of al-Qaeda leverage.

Some Southern Transitional Council officials expect future Yemen talks may occur between the group and the Ansar Allah Movement, but so far Saudi Arabia has refused to bring any representatives from the Southern Transitional Council into the negotiating cycle, but also the resigned government has not played any role in that process.