ZCZC
BFF-35
YEMEN-CONFLICT-SAUDI
Yemen govt, separatists set to form cabinet within week: coalition
RIYADH, Dec 10, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Yemen’s internationally recognised
government and southern separatists will form a cabinet within a week as part
of a Saudi-sponsored power sharing agreement, a Riyadh-led coalition said
Thursday, after a series of delays.
The so-called Riyadh Agreement which was struck late last year was
designed to mend a rift between the secessionist Southern Transitional
Council (STC) and the government, both technically allies in the war against
Huthi rebels who have seized much of Yemen’s north.
But the deal has repeatedly stalled, further complicating the long and
wider conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition backing the government
and the Iran-backed Huthis who control the capital Sanaa.
“Consensus has been reached on the formation of the Yemeni government,
comprised of 24 ministers, including ministers from the Southern Transitional
Council and political components in Yemen,” said a coalition source,
according to a report carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The cabinet would be announced immediately after a military reorganisation
is completed “within a week”, the source said.
The reorganisation would see armed forces from both sides separated and
withdrawn from the southern port city of Aden and the flashpoint province of
Abyan, the source added.
Coalition military observers began implementing the redeployment process
on Thursday, with pro-government sources reporting “limited clashes” in Abyan
between both sides. Yemen’s southern separatists, who have long agitated for
independence, signed the power-sharing deal in the Saudi capital in November
2019.
But the pact quickly became defunct, failing to meet deadlines for key
measures including forming a new cabinet with equal representation for
southerners.
The tussle for control of the south exposed divisions between the
coalition partners — Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, and the
United Arab Emirates, a backer and funder of the STC.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and
millions displaced in Yemen’s long conflict which has triggered what the
United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1738 hrs