After a series of new appointments to Yemen's cabinet, a government was sworn in on Monday in Riyadh, marking a shift in the direction of the once heavily southern-aligned leadership.
While the US and the UN congratulated the head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Rashad Al Alimi, calling it an opportunity to “reinforce stability”, others such as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) have denounced the move.
The new government “has no political or national legitimacy” in the south because of its exclusion of the region's political leadership, STC spokesman Amr Al Bidh said. The STC seeks to re-establish a separate state in southern Yemen that existed before unification with the north in 1990.
In December, fighters loyal to the STC moved into oil-rich territory in the south, seizing control of the Hadhramaut and Mahra provinces. But rival forces won back the territory with the help of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE had joined forces in 2015 to prevent the Houthi rebels capturing control of Yemen. After its withdrawal in 2019, the UAE continued its mission in the country to fight against extremist groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS.
In December, the UAE withdrew its last counter-terrorism forces from Yemen after one of its vehicles was hit by an air strike during unrest, in which a Saudi-led coalition intervened to stop the advance of a southern group.
In the aftermath, STC commander Aidarous Al Zubaidi was accused of high treason and stripped of his seat on the PLC. A further two members of the STC were removed from the PLC, following the fracture in ties.
“The STC's shrinking role is seen with the formation of the new government,” said Salah Ali Salah, researcher and writer at the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies.
The National Dialogue Conference of 2013 stipulated that the government would be composed of 50 per cent northerners and 50 per cent southerners. “The dynamic has slightly shifted now with the eastern province of Hadhramaut – who had complained in the past of being underrepresented – getting a larger share of representation than they did in the past,” said Baraa Shiban, a Yemen and Gulf analyst with Royal United Services Institute in London.
More voices from Hadhramaut have also called for recognition as the “governorate of the east”, he said. “In practical terms and reality there should've been more focus on quality rather than this divide” in the new government, Mr Shiban added.
The new government has 10 more members than the previous one, with 27 ministers and eight ministers of state. “Each faction has at least two representatives. So this new government is all about meeting quotas and appeasing different factions rather than qualifications,” Mr Salah said.
But the STC still poses a threat to the newly formed government, said the head of the US-based Basha Report Risk Advisory, Mohammad Al Basha. Following the announcement and the swearing-in ceremony, at least seven people were killed and more than two dozen injured in clashes between pro-STC and government security forces in Shabwa's city of Ataq.
Southern forces, trained by the UAE, played a significant role in driving Houthi fighters out of southern Yemen, particularly in Aden, Lahj and parts of Abyan, during the early years of the war between 2015 and 2018.
The STC “remains active in the south, staging protests and attempting to recapture key sites such as the governor’s mansion in Ataq and the airport in Sayoun”, Mr Al Basha told The National. “Even at low intensity, this unrest limits the government’s ability to operate.”
PLC members had met in Riyadh for a conference on Yemen's south, during which a statement was issued of the dissolution of the STC. But several STC officials refuted the statement, and said that no such decision was made by the head of the separatist body.
“Even the STC members of the new government aren't ones that represent the body because they were not nominated by the group's leadership,” Mr Salah said.
