"Autonomy" in southern Yemen ... What is behind the sudden announcement?

Mohammed Abdul-Malik - Al-Jazeera Net

A number of southern Yemeni provinces announced their categorical rejection of the Transitional Council statement, in which it declared a state of emergency and autonomy for the south.

The legitimate government described this development as a coup, while the Saudi-Emirati coalition said it was surprising, calling for the implementation of the Riyadh agreement, and the UAE spoke about its opposition to the announcement of the transitional council whose leaders are located in Abu Dhabi, and providing it with financial and military support.

It was not much time since the transitional council's statement until the official authorities of the most prominent southern cities (Hadhramaut, Shabwa, Al-Mahra, Socotra and Abyan) announced their rejection of the move, which they described as a coup, and confirmed in separate official statements that they adhere to the legitimate government.

While the forces of the Southern Transitional Council embarked on their attempts to control the central bank in Aden, which is controlled by security, in addition to the Dali governorate, the picture seemed completely different in the rest of the other southern cities, which the transitional failed to impose its control over or control government headquarters there.

The director of Socotra governorate, Riyad Al-Socotri, said that the transitional declaration is a legal and legal nullity and has no value, considering that the local authorities in Socotra governorate clearly express their position rejecting this matter.

Al-Soqtari confirmed in a phone call with Al-Jazeera Net that the legitimate government still controls the port and the rest of the state’s institutions in the province, and things are going as usual, adding that the coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, yesterday evening conducted more than 15 military armored vehicles towards the island's port to secure it.

He stated that they work under the banner of the legitimate government, and they do not recognize anything other than the authority of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and that the militia cannot replace the state.

Kelly refused
, in turn, the official of the external communication for the sit-in of Al-Mahra governorate Ahmed Belhaf said that they totally reject the statement of the transitional council, along with the political parties and the local authorities in the governorate.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net that the parties ’position is logical because the Transitional Council is not authorized to take decisions related to the southern governorates, especially after it became known that it works for the interests of the Emirates, as he put it. 

Belhaf emphasized that they in the governorate believe in the justice of the southern issue and its political solution, and that the decision of the transitional council should not be formed from within according to frameworks and mechanisms that preserve the one Yemeni house and not through the implementation of an external agenda.

For his part, the governor of Shabwa Muhammad Salih bin Adio said that his authorities and all the security, popular and political forces in the city stand in the national ranks, which is led by the legitimate Yemeni president and rejects the coup and rebellion against him.

Maneuvers for consumption
and the coalition’s credibility in the position it announced, as well as statements by the Minister of State for Emirati Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, in which he expressed his country's opposition to the announcement of the Transitional Council; Yemeni political analyst Yassin al-Tamimi said that neither of them had sufficient political seriousness.

Al-Tamimi added to Al-Jazeera Net that such consumer stances come within the framework of the political maneuvering of the alliance, specifically the Emirates, which is trying to show the consistency of its position with Riyadh, as well as the statement that is supposed to have been issued by the alliance that the UAE is still part of.

According to the spokesman, the UAE could have prevented the Transitional Council from taking this step, especially since its president, Aidarous Al-Zubaidi and his deputy, Hani bin Brik, were in Abu Dhabi.

Saudi Arabia could also push for the implementation of the Riyadh agreement, and work to strip the transitional forces of the military force on which it is based in taking escalatory and dangerous steps of this kind, according to Al-Tamimi.

The political analyst continued, "In my estimation, the whole matter comes within an agreed plan between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, and its goal is to create a new and acceptable political reality because it is still under the umbrella of the Yemeni state, which Riyadh completely controls its head and controls the decisions of its authority and government, and this allows achieving The goal of dismantling the Yemeni state is to spend its leadership, its weakness, its weakness, and its weak responses.

According to political analysts Al-Jazeera Net spoke to, the escalation of the transitional council may push the conflict of influence and interests between Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the public this time, as it may expose the transitional council to what remains of its narrow mass popularity, when it is unable to provide services and fulfill the obligations of citizens in Aden And it is the same reasons that he used as a justification for his rebellion against the government.