Yemen’s internationally recognised government has claimed the recapture of southern and eastern parts of the country from the Southern Transitional Council (STC), as thousands of people rallied in the city of Aden in support of the secessionist group.
Rashad al-Alimi, chief of the Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said on Saturday that two key regions had been retaken and that government forces have assumed full control of southern Yemen.
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“As the president of the country and the high commander of the armed forces, I want to assure you of the recapture of Hadramout and al-Mahra,” al-Alimi said.
He added that the Yemeni government has invited former members of the STC to Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, for discussions on the country’s future and that all military forces in Yemen will now operate under the command of the Saudi-led coalition in the country.
Al-Alimi’s announcement came after a successful Saudi-backed offensive to drive the STC out of the Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces, which it had seized towards the end of last year.
The two provinces border Saudi Arabia and make up nearly half of Yemeni territory.
The confrontations exposed heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a top ally that the Saudi authorities have accused of backing the STC.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Riyadh, said al-Alimi’s announcement was effectively a message of “reassurance” from the Yemeni government “that its troops are now in control of all the military bases” taken by the STC in recent weeks.
The upcoming conference, Ahelbarra said, “is an indication that they want to turn the chapter of the entire legacy of the STC”.
It is also a signal that the PLC is “adamant on the need to start negotiations”, he added.
Al-Alimi’s address came shortly after thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in the STC stronghold of Aden to show support for the group amid conflicting reports about its purported plans to disband.
STC supporters chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government in Aden’s Khor Maksar district. The crowd waved the flag of the former South Yemen, which was an independent state between 1967 and 1990.
“Today, the people of the south gathered from all provinces in the capital, Aden, to reiterate what they have been saying consistently for years and throughout the last month: We want an independent state,” protester Yacoub al-Safyani told the AFP news agency.
Some held up photos of STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who has fled the country, while others chanted, “Southerner, raise your voice, independence or death”, according to the Reuters news agency.
People took to the streets despite Saudi-backed groups urging them on Friday not to do so.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE used to work together in a coalition battling Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war. But relations have become strained amid the STC’s full-throttle secessionist push.
After weeks of Saudi-led efforts to de-escalate, Yemeni government forces, backed by the Gulf country, launched an attack on the STC, forcing the separatists out of Hadramout, the presidential palace in Aden and military camps in al-Mahra.
An STC delegation travelled to the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, earlier this week for talks, which its leader, Zubaidi, skipped. The Saudi-led coalition accused the UAE of helping him escape on a flight that was tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.
On Friday, the STC delegation, which was in Riyadh for talks, announced the dissolution of the group in an apparent admission of defeat.
Secretary-General Abdulrahman Jalal al-Sebaihi said the group would shut down all of its bodies and offices inside and outside of Yemen, citing internal disagreements and mounting regional pressure.
But in a statement issued on Saturday, the STC said it had held an “extraordinary meeting” following the announcement in Riyadh, and declared it “null and void”, saying it had been made “under coercion and pressure”.
It also reiterated calls for mass protests in southern cities on Saturday, warning against any attempts that target the group’s “peaceful activities”.
The armed forces of the Yemeni government said on Saturday that it would “strike firmly and decisively against anyone who seeks to tamper with security or disrupt public order”, without making any reference to the protests.
Separately, Al Jazeera’s Ahelbarra said that al-Alimi, the head of the PLC, in his Saturday address also issued a warning that extended beyond southern Yemen, telling the Houthis – who control northern Yemen – that they can “negotiate a settlement with us… or you will face repercussions, including the potential for a military action”.
The Houthis took over Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, claiming they were the only legitimate authority across Yemen. The group does not recognise al-Alimi’s Presidential Leadership Council.