Yemen’s UAE-backed body pledges to thwart president’s decisions

The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen on Sunday pledged to prevent the implementation of decisions made by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi without prior consultations, the Safa news agency reported.

This comes ten days after the president’s decision to appoint the speaker of the Shura Council and two deputies, as well as a Public Prosecutor. The STC and two other parties rejected these nominations.

In a statement, the STC called for the Saudi-UAE coalition to bear its responsibility as a sponsor of the Riyadh Agreement and cancel the latest presidential decisions.

According to the statement, the STC said that the aim of the unilateral decisions “is just to lay obstacles and cause a confrontation.”

Therefore, the STC called for the removal of the military breaches “in order to avoid any reactions.”

Yemen’s Deputy Minister of Information, Mohammad Qizan, said that the STC was not committed to the Riyadh Agreement and intends to backtrack from it.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said the Riyadh Agreement is clear and does not include any stipulations that the president has to give up any of his power to anyone.

On 5 November 2019, the Yemeni government signed an agreement in Riyadh with the STC stipulating the partitioning of the government in addition to other political, military and security arrangements.

The agreement was abandoned and the two sides exchanged accusations followed by signing a pledge in July 2020 to accelerate the implementation of the agreement.

The first one of its terms, which is related to the formation of the government, was implemented on 18 December 2020.