Sources in the local authority of the Socotra Archipelago said that the transitional council forces have tightened their control over the airport and port, and are preparing to land Emirati equipment and weapons in the archipelago.
The news coming from Socotra reveals Emirati moves on the ground there. On the outskirts of the island, Abu Dhabi is accelerating time to build 3 camps.
This coincided with the arrival of Emirati officers to Socotra during the past hours, amid reports of preparations at Al Jazeera Airport for landings of weapons and military equipment coming from Abu Dhabi.
Local sources told the island that Emirati officers arrived on the island aboard a plane belonging to the Emirates Royal Jet Company, which resumed its flights to Socotra last week, after an interruption that lasted an entire year.
Promises are at stake
In the face of these accelerating moves, Yemenis fear that Socotra will become under the tutelage of the Emirates, and affirm that the credibility and promises of Saudi Arabia to President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi are at stake.
Yemeni sources are talking about pressure from Abu Dhabi on Saudi Arabia to drop any item from the new proposal for the Riyadh agreement calling for the situation in Socotra to return to what it was before the Transitional Council overturned the legitimacy there.
In late June, the Southern Transitional Council seized control of the city of Hadibu, the capital of the Yemeni archipelago, from which it expanded its influence with Emirati support and what was then described as Saudi collusion to its complete control of the island from the legitimate government.
The Emirati moves in Socotra continue despite the guarantees requested by the Yemeni president from Saudi Arabia, the sponsor of the Riyadh Agreement and the leader of the coalition in Yemen, for the implementation of the transitional council, the amended agreement.