The committee of the "sit-in of the skilled people peaceful" praised the announcement of the tribe of Al Afar tribe to isolate its Sheikh accused of supporting the Emirates in controlling the island of Socotra, and the appointment of Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Afar as Chairman of the Family Council.
The sit-in committee called, in an official statement posted on its Facebook page, on the family to assume its historical responsibilities during the exceptional and difficult circumstances experienced by the governorates of Mahra and Socotra.
The sit-in committee renewed its rejection of the attempt to drag the province into chaos by deploying pro-Emirati militias to be brought in from outside the province, to repeat the scenario of events and the coup in Socotra with the support of external agencies and countries.
The family of Afar decided in a wide meeting yesterday, Friday, to dismiss Sheikh Abdullah bin Isa bin Afar from his post, and to choose Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Al Afar as the new chairman of its council.
The tribe said - in a statement during a meeting in the historical city of Qishn - that the new council expresses the tribe's will and aspirations, and works to maintain security and stability away from conflicts that do not serve skilled people.
The former deputy governor of Al Mahrah, Sheikh Ali Salem Al Harizi, was accused, in media statements, of Sheikh Abdullah Issa bin Affar, the former head of the General Council for the sons of Socotra and Mahra, of handing Socotra to the militias and the UAE "occupation", adding that he no longer represents the children of Socotra and Mahra.
The militants of the Transitional Council took control of the headquarters of the local authority in Socotra, on the 19th of last month, after the withdrawal of the government forces, hours after they took control of the Socotra Security Directorate building located in Hadibu (the center of the governorate) in which Saudi forces are located.
Socotra, the largest of the archipelago of the same name, consists of 6 islands and occupies a strategic location in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa, near the Gulf of Aden.
An open sit-in
organized by the people of Al-Mahra Governorate (eastern Yemen), adjacent to the western borders of the Sultanate of Oman; An open sit-in since 2018 rejecting the presence of Saudi and Emirati forces, and their control over the governorate's outlets and ports.
The protesters are demanding the withdrawal of the Saudi and Emirati forces from Al-Ghaydah airport and the port of Nishtoun, and the return of the Yemeni army and security forces to the shipping and exchange ports.
The UAE tried to form forces loyal to it in Al-Mahra, similar to its forces in southern Yemen, which confiscated the influence of the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, and took control of the ports and airports in Aden, Mukha, Mukalla, and Socotra, but clashed with the refusal of the people and tribesmen in the governorate, which constituted a national and security dimension of Oman.
After Abu Dhabi's failure, Saudi Arabia deployed large forces in the province in late December 2017, controlling shipping and disposal ports on the Omani border, and justified this by protecting the borders and preventing Iranian weapons from being smuggled to the Houthis through the Sultanate.