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UAE rejects support claims for separatist seizure of Yemen’s Aden
ABU DHABI, Aug 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United Arab Emirates on
Wednesday rejected accusations it supported Yemeni separatists in their
seizure of the government’s de facto capital Aden.
“We regret hearing today allegations directed against the UAE regarding
developments in Aden, which we categorically reject,” the UAE’s deputy
permanent representative to the United Nations, Saud Al-Shamsi, wrote on
Twitter.
As a key partner in the Saudi-led military coalition backing the
government against northern-based Huthi rebels, “the UAE is exerting all
efforts to de-escalate the situation in Yemen”, he added.
The UAE-trained Security Belt Forces, dominated by pro-independence
southern fighters, ousted loyalists from the southern port city earlier this
month.
The clashes in the capital of formerly independent South Yemen left around
40 people dead.
Shortly after, separatist forces withdrew from key positions under
pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which were pushing for talks.
But on Tuesday, separatist fighters from the Southern Transitional Council
(STC), who dominate the Security Belt Forces, drove government troops out of
two military camps along the coast from Aden.
South Yemen was an independent state from 1967 until it merged with the
north in 1990.
Four years later, an armed secession bid ended in occupation by northern
forces, giving rise to resentments which persist to this day.
The spike in tensions between separatists and pro-government forces
constrains their cooperation against a common foe — the Iran-aligned Huthis
— in a war that has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
The Yemeni government, which has denounced an Emirati-backed “coup”, said
Tuesday the UAE was “fully responsible for the armed rebellion” and urged it
to stop backing “this militia”.
Yemen’s UN permanent representative, Abdullah al-Saadi, said “the armed
rebellion (in Aden)… is supported financially, logistically and with the
knowledge of the UAE”, according to Yemeni state media.
“If it were not for the full support of the UAE, this rebellion would not
have taken place,” he told the UN Security Council.
The UN’s Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths warned Tuesday that the war-torn
country faced the prospect of breaking apart unless an agreement ending the
decades-long conflict is found urgently.
Griffiths headed to the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday to meet with
Huthi rebel officials, according to a UN source.
The Saudi-led coalition — of which the UAE is a key members — intervened
in the Yemen war in 2015 after the rebels ousted the government and took over
Sanaa.
Since then, the fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and
sparked what the UN labels the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
BSS/AFP/RY/1750 hrs