In statements described as political maneuvering ... the head of the "Southern Transitional Council" in Yemen announces the imminent restoration of the "State of the South"

The head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in Yemen, Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi, announced near what he called the restoration of the "southern Yemen" state.

Al-Zubaidi said that the council "opened all doors to what he called the people's cause and extracted the opponents' recognition of what he called a federal, independent and fully sovereign state" on the pre-unification borders on May 21, 1990.

For his part, Saleh al-Nud, the director of the Southern Transitional Council’s office in London, said that what al-Zubaidi said was what the council had originally set up for, which is to restore the state of the south, he said.

Al-Nud added - in an interview with Al-Jazeera - that the Riyadh agreement is an option for the transitional council, but that does not mean giving up on the restoration of the state of the south, as he put it.

An escape from confrontation

Commenting on Al-Zubaidi's statements, Yemeni writer and political researcher Nabil Al-Bukairi said that the speech of the President of the Southern Transitional Council is an escape from facing the challenges that the Council faces in his areas of control.

Al-Bukairi added - in an interview with Al-Jazeera - that Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi's speech is in harmony with what the Houthis are promoting regarding the weakness of the legitimate government.

As for the Saudi writer and political analyst, Munif Ammash Al-Harbi, he said that the statement of the head of the Southern Transitional Council is part of the political maneuvering to achieve gains in the negotiations for a final solution to the Yemeni crisis.

It is noteworthy that on November 5, 2019, the Yemeni government signed an agreement in Riyadh with the Southern Transitional Council, which includes its participation in a 50/50 government between the north and south, and political, military and security arrangements.

However, the agreement remained unimplemented, and the two sides exchanged accusations of obstructing it, before a mechanism was signed to speed up the agreement in July 2020, and it implements its first clauses with the formation of the government on December 18.