Author Jonathan Fenton Harvey says that Abu Dhabi has secretly worked to secure the dominance of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in Libya and that of southern separatists in Yemen, in an effort to boost its regional influence.
The author adds in an article published on the British "Middle East Eye" website that the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen and Haftar, Libya, rebelled in less than 48 hours against their governments, in defiance of previous peace initiatives.
He says that it would not have been possible for these moves had not occurred without the hidden initiative of the Emirates, as Abu Dhabi supported both sides in an attempt to show its strength.
Early on April 26, the Southern Transitional Council declared "autonomy" in Aden, which put an end to the Riyadh agreement stipulating the unification of the council's forces with the forces of the government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The Governor of Libya
On the following night, Haftar declared himself a military ruler of Libya, indicating his desire to "create conditions for building permanent civil institutions", announcing the cancellation of the Skhirat Agreement signed in Morocco in 2015, which called for the formation of a unity government leading the country.
The writer adds that such timing may be surprising. Given the two sides' critical dependence on the Emirates, it is possible that Abu Dhabi - despite its official rejection of the STC's unilateral move - has encouraged these simultaneous coups against Hadi in Yemen and the National Accord government in Libya.
He points out that while the Southern Transitional Council has faced pressure from the Yemeni government to implement the Riyadh agreement, and with the Turkish-backed national reconciliation government achieving gains against Haftar's forces, these moves constitute an attempt to preserve the presence of the parties.
The writer says that Abu Dhabi worked to secure the hegemony of both sides (the transitional and Haftar), in order to ensure its regional sphere of influence, since 2014 the UAE considered Haftar a useful force to repeat its efforts in Egypt to establish an authoritarian military regime, which is why the Libyan Prince of War embraced .
The writer confirms that Abu Dhabi played a pivotal role in establishing the so-called Libyan National Army led by Haftar, and also assisted him in his ongoing campaign to seize Tripoli since April 2019.
He added that with Haftar withdrawing from the Moscow talks brokered by Russia and Turkey in January, the retired Major General clearly felt that he had received enough support from elsewhere - specifically from Abu Dhabi - to resume military operations.
Doubtful allegations
In addition to supporting the Haftar coup, the UAE has funded and supported the South Yemeni Transitional Council since its founding in 2017, which has demanded a southern state independent of northern Yemen. The UAE air strikes against government forces after the coup of the Southern Transitional Council in Aden last August showed that the UAE was keen to reinforce this separatist campaign.
The writer explains that the UAE seeks to control southern Yemen and its ports, especially Aden and Socotra, in order to create a zone of influence on the Red Sea and to enhance its maritime trade, and that it also seeks to undermine the independence of Libya.
The writer states that both Emirati agents have eternally accepted each other, and that the two factions are promoting the novel "Combating Extremism" for the UAE, to justify their military efforts, while claiming that they are legitimate representatives of their peoples!
He concludes that continued arms sales from Western countries to the UAE constitute evidence of their actions, which means that Abu Dhabi still has sufficient immunity to impose effective control over the rebel factions - Transitional and Haftar - in Libya and Yemen within the sight of Western capitals.