The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council rejected a request from the Saudi-Emirati coalition to hand over the coasts of Aden to the legitimate authority in Yemen, while the coalition spoke about its endeavor to empower the Yemeni government.
In a series of tweets on his Twitter account, Hani bin Brik, Vice-President of the Transitional Council, rejected the coalition's request to hand over boats of the Coast Guard forces in Aden to the Yemeni legitimate government forces.
Ben Brik pointed to what he described as a bitter experience with legitimacy after handing over the coast guard from the Hadrami elite, which led to the spread of what he described as terrorists on these coasts.
The prominent southern leader called on the Saudi-Emirati alliance to put serious pressure on President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to implement the Riyadh agreement and form an agreement government with the transitional council.
He also expressed surprise at the position of the coalition, and said that the transitional council responded to the request to hand over the boats to the Coast Guard Command of the legitimate government by saying that the council has a high political leadership with which the coalition must coordinate and then take a decision.
A spokesman for the Saudi-Emirati coalition, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, had previously confirmed that the coalition is in continuous communication with the Transitional Council, and that political efforts are being made to enable the Yemeni government to perform its duties.
In contact with the Saudi news channel, Al-Maliki said that any action outside this framework undermines efforts to fight the Houthis.
Earlier, a source in the coalition said that the Southern Transitional Council prevented the Yemeni coast guard forces from performing their duties.
The source added that the council did not respond to it regarding the continued work of the Yemeni Coast Guard, and that the maritime threat in the Gulf of Aden is an existing threat, and that all parties should assume their responsibilities, as he put it.
The transitional council refused to respond to the alliance's request after it had previously demonstrated its adherence to the transitional administration that it had announced in the southern governorates, a move that the Yemeni government described as a coup against the Riyadh agreement signed last November.
On the other hand, a local source said to the island that Yemeni and Saudi forces in the Socotra archipelago prevented the entry of an Emirati ship to the port of Halawaf in Socotra to unload its cargo, because it sailed and docked without obtaining a permit.
The source talked about information that there are weapons and military equipment on the ship to support the militants of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in Socotra, and the source indicated that the ship is still waiting for permission to enter the port.
This development comes days after UAE-backed forces attempted to take control of the city of Hadibu, the center of Socotra, approximately 350 km off the coast of Aden.
Yemeni officials have repeatedly accused the UAE of seeking to establish its control over the island through military force and also through illegal land acquisition.