Head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Rashad Al Alimi has removed and replaced some of the country's highest-ranking government and military officials.
He dismissed Mohsen Al Daeri from his minister of defence post, after having appointed him in 2022. The announcement came after Mr Al Alimi dismissed minister of transport Abdulsalam Hadi, minister of planning Waed Badhib and governor of Aden Ahmad Lamlas, and referred them "for investigation".
Last month, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) took control of the Hadhramaut and Mahra governorates from other pro-government forces, effectively consolidating its grip over much of southern Yemen. The STC holds three of the PLC's eight seats.
Mr Al Alimi is currently in Riyadh, where a conference is expected to be held with members of the STC, including its deputy head, Abdulrahman 'Abu Zaraa' Al Mahrami.
Rival factions allied to the government regained control of the two governorates, backed by air strikes by the anti-Houthi Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015.
Mr Al Alimi was angered by the STC's move and revoked Mr Al Zubaidi's membership from the PLC after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh on the future of Yemen's south.
He appointed Abdulrahman Al Yafai as the new governor of Aden. Mr Al Yafai is also a founding member of the STC and previously held the position of deputy governor.
Mr Al Alimi dismissed Mohsen Marsa, commander of the Military Police Brigade in Mahra, and Talib Barjash, commander of the Second Military Region – based in Mukalla, Hadhramaut - referring both "for investigation". The charges have yet to be divulged.
Earlier this week, Mohammad Al Jaber, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Yemen, met officials from Yemen's Southern Transitional Council in Riyadh to discuss the latest arrangements for a conference that his country will host soon.
Saudi Arabia had accepted a request from Mr Alimi to hold talks in Riyadh and called on all Yemen's southern factions to join the conference. The STC welcomed the move.
“The Southern cause has entered a genuine path, sponsored by the Kingdom and supported and endorsed by the international community through the Riyadh Conference," said Saudi Arabia's minister of defence Prince Khalid Bin Salman on Friday.
“The Kingdom will form a preparatory committee, in consultation with southern figures, to prepare for the conference. The conference will include southern figures from all southern governorates, without exclusion or discrimination. The Kingdom will support the outcomes of the conference so they can be presented at the table of dialogue for a comprehensive political solution in Yemen," he wrote on X.
Yemen's state news agency Saba earlier published a statement citing "the Presidency of the STC, the Supreme Executive Leadership, the General Secretariat" and affiliates, saying the armed factions were "dissolved".
But an STC spokesperson said such decisions cannot be made without the approval of the council's president Aidarous Al Zubaidi. "Decisions related to the Southern Transitional Council can only be taken by the Council in its entirety and under the supervision of the President," Anwar Al Tamimi said in a post on X.
However, Saudi Arabia's Prince Khalid wrote that "the decision taken by southern figures and leaders to dissolve the Southern Transitional Council was a courageous one, reflecting concern for the future of the Southern cause and encouraging the participation of other southerners in the Riyadh Conference in service of their cause".
