Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi has invited the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council to return to the path of the Riyadh agreement, while sources have revealed to the island that there is Saudi pressure on the Yemeni president to amend this agreement.
Hadi called - in a speech to a meeting of his advisors and members of the House of Representatives - the Southern Transitional Council to "stop the bloodshed and miss the opportunity for the Yemeni people and stop the escalation and attacks, and the sincere and serious return of the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement."
Hadi announced his commitment to the ceasefire in Abyan to allow the efforts being made to end the rebellion against the state, as he put it.
The Yemeni president also criticized the transitional council's control of Socotra Island in the south, describing the move as a rebellion against the state and an attack on innocent citizens.
He said that he regretted and gripped himself by witnessing the transitional council's armored vehicles, equipment and military vehicles as they "stormed the institutions of the state and terrorized the safe people on Socotra", which he described as "a peaceful peacefulness in which not a single bullet was fired."
Pressure to amend the agreement
While Hadi calls on the transitional council to return to the Riyadh agreement, sources revealed to the island that there is Saudi pressure on the Yemeni president to implement the political part of the agreement and delay the security and military parts.
The sources added that Saudi pressure aims to start forming a partnership government with the transitional, and to appoint a governor and security director for Aden.
She noted that the amendment of the Riyadh Agreement proposes to postpone the handing over of the Transitional Council of its weapons and the merging of its forces after the formation of the government.
Sources confirmed to the island that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are stepping up pressure on the Yemeni president to accept the new agreement.
The same sources said that Hadi informed the country's leaders that he was adhering to the literal implementation of the Riyadh agreement, despite the great pressure.
Resumption of escalation
In parallel with these developments, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council announced the resumption of what it described as escalating activities against the Yemeni government in the eastern Hadramaut Governorate.
The Transitional Council called on the leadership of the local authority in Hadhramaut to adopt its demands, stop the revenues of the governorate, and initiate a declaration of self-management.
She attributed the so-called transitional committee of the escalation of the Transitional Council, the resumption of the escalation because the government did not respond to the demands to improve the level of services and address the security file in Wadi Hadramout.