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Yemen PM returns to Aden under deal with separatists
ADEN, Nov 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Yemen’s prime minister on Monday flew back
to the southern city of Aden under the terms of a peace deal with southern
separatists who expelled the government from its provisional capital in
August.
The return from Riyadh of Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and four
other ministers, initially planned for last week but delayed for logistical
reasons, follows the November deal with separatists who had chased the
government out of the port city.
Fighters of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) last August
seized control of Aden, which had become the seat of government after it was
driven out of Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 by Huthi rebels.
The STC and the government, which are technically allies in the fight
against the Huthis, inked a power-sharing deal in Riyadh on November 5 under
Saudi mediation.
As well as heralding the government’s return to Aden, it laid the
foundation for forming a new 24-member cabinet with equal representation for
southerners, including the STC.
Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has lived in Riyadh since Sanaa
fell to the Huthis.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 as the Huthi rebels
closed in on Aden, prompting Hadi to flee into Saudi exile.
Infighting in Yemen’s south had posed a headache for regional powerhouse
Saudi Arabia, which remains focused on confronting the Iran-aligned Huthis.
The war within a war also raised fears that Yemen could disintegrate,
threatening to sharpen a humanitarian crisis in the country that the United
Nations has termed as the world’s worst.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said the deal would “open a new
period of stability in Yemen”.
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said it was “important
to the political efforts to achieve peace in the country”.
Yemen’s conflict has since 2015 killed tens of thousands of people, most
of them civilians, and driven millions more to the brink of famine.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1839 hrs