Can Saudi Arabia fix Yemen’s anti-Houthi coalition?
Following the breakdown of the Riyadh agreement, and renewed fighting in April, Saudi Arabia hosted the STC president to discuss the situation, but it remains doubtful the Gulf state can offer an easy solution if the war with the Houthis is not settled first.
President of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) Aidarous al-Zubaidi arrived in Riyadh May 19 to address the latest apparent impasse with the government of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The STC initially said the trip was scheduled to last three days. On May 26, an STC official told Al-Monitor the talks had reached day eight.
The visit is the STC’s first since last year’s Riyadh agreement broke down, with each side blaming the other. Earlier this month, government forces launched attacks against STC positions outside Zinjibar in Abyan province, just 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the de facto capital Aden.
The fighting came after the STC declared administrative autonomy in Yemen’s south in April, likely a grasp at domestic legitimacy rather than a stroke at genuine secession. But the move has only served to renew the conflict between the ostensible allies, further distracting from their shared fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the north.
