Yemenis demonstrate against UAE-backed STC and normalisation
Thousands of Yemenis demonstrated yesterday to reject the monopoly of popular representation in the southern governorates in the UAE-backed Transitional Council, expressing their condemnation of all measures of normalisation with Israel.
This came during a demonstration organised by the Southern National Coalition (formed in the governorates of southern Yemen, a pro-government and anti-transitional council) in Ataq, the capital of Shabwa Governorate, under the slogan “broad national partnership is our path to stability.”
In separate contacts with Anadolu Agency, participants in the event said that thousands of citizens participated in a demonstration in a number of streets of Ataq city (located within what is considered the southern governorates).
They explained that the demonstrators chanted slogans, including: “With our soul and blood we will protect you, Yemen, our demand for federal states,” noting that the participants raised the Palestinian and Yemeni flags, and a picture of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the Governor of Shabwah, Muhammad bin Adi.
A statement issued by the demonstrators, a copy of which was delivered to Anadolu Agency, said that effectiveness comes under attempts to impose coup projects by force of weapons in the north (referring to the Houthis) and the south (referring to the Transitional Council).
The statement clarified that those efforts “target mainly the constitutional legitimacy and the state project as the whole framework for all the nations citizens.”
The statement emphasised that claiming a monopoly on representation of the southern cause and raising the banner of the popular mandate (referring to the refusal to limit the representation of the south in the Transitional Council) is inconsistent with the values of democracy.
The demonstrators expressed their adherence to fair and full representation in the Riyadh consultations regarding the formation of the new government and all political arrangements.
At the end of July, the Saudi-led Arab alliance declared a mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, including the Transitional Council’s abandonment of self-administration, forming an equal government of competence between the south and north, the military forces’ departure from Aden, and separating the two parties’ forces in Abyan and returning them to their previous positions
In August 2019, forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) took control of brigades and camps belonging to the legitimate government, following battles between the two parties that ended in controlling the presidential palace. The Yemeni government considered it a complete coup against the legitimacy in the interim capital Aden, calling for the withdrawal of the Transitional Council’s forces before any dialogue.
In another case, the demonstration statement expressed its condemnation and criminalisation of “all measures of normalisation with the Israeli entity,” considering it as “aggression against the Palestinian people and targeting of the centrality of the Palestinian issue in the consciousness and conscience of the nation.”
On Thursday, the STC said that the normalisation agreement between the UAE and Israel was a “courageous decision.”
From: MEM
