Saudi Arabia is consolidating its influence in Yemen after a failed UAE-backed bid for southern independence
News Desk - The Cradle
“It was decided to terminate the membership of Faraj Salmeen al-Bahsani in the Presidential Leadership Council,” a resolution issued by the group announced.
Bahsani is a vice president of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which had worked with the Saudi-backed PLC until recently.
He is also the governor of the oil-rich Hadhramaut governorate in Yemen.
Military forces of the UAE-backed STC, which seeks an independent state in southern Yemen, captured large swathes of territory in the Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra governorates in December, angering Saudi Arabia.
Saudi-backed forces quickly reversed the STC's gains, including through the use of airstrikes.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has sidelined the UAE, consolidating its control over south and east Yemen and ousting UAE-backed members of the PLC.
Northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and most of the country's populated areas, is governed by the Ansarallah-led Yemeni government. Ansarallah took control of Sanaa in 2014 during the country's civil war.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE then launched a war against Ansarallah, seeking to impose their own preferred ruler on the country.
STC president Aidarus al-Zubaidi was forced to flee Yemen via Somalia with UAE help and has been accused of “high treason.” Zubaidi fled to the UAE rather than attend a conference in Saudi Arabia to discuss the future of the country.
The PLC resolution said Bahsani was sacked for supporting Zubaidi and the STC military offensive, as well as for public comments, including saying the STC would not agree to unite under the command of a Saudi-led coalition.
Bahsani also called on Saudi Arabia to allow talks between Yemen's southern armed factions to take place outside the Saudi Kingdom.
“I call on Saudi Arabia to give southerners an opportunity to meet outside Saudi Arabia, away from the pressures that will be exerted on the participants if it is held in Riyadh,” he told AFP.
Last week, a high-level STC delegation announced the group had dissolved. The STC officials made the announcement after arriving in Riyadh for the conference that Zubaidi fled to avoid attending.
However, an STC spokesman rejected the announcement, saying it was made under Saudi pressure and that the STC officials in Riyadh had been detained.
In addition to consolidating political control, Saudi Arabia is seeking to deepen its economic influence in southern Yemen.
On Thursday, the Kingdom announced a package of development projects worth about $500 million in southern Yemen, some of which include areas that were for years under the control of the UAE-backed STC.
The Saudi defense minister presented aid projects in 10 governorates, including the construction of hospitals, schools, and roads, and the provision of fuel to increase electricity production.
He also stated that Saudi Arabia will build a mosque on the Yemeni island of Socotra bearing the name “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.”
UAE-backed STC forces had taken control of the strategically located island in 2020.
The minister affirmed that these steps “embody the Kingdom's keenness to enhance security and stability, and to contribute to building a better future for Yemen and its people.”
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