Yemen government delays return, officials blame separatists

Yemen’s internationally recognized government was
forced to delay its return to the port city of Aden, officials said Sunday,
blaming southern separatists for stalling on the key point of a power-sharing
deal signed early this month to end their infighting.
Under the agreement brokered by Saudi Arabia between
Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the separatists, the government
was to have returned to Aden last Tuesday. The separatists pushed government
forces out and captured Aden during clashes last summer.
Their infighting added another complex layer to the
country’s civil war, in which the government and the separatists, backed by the
United Arab Emirates, are in a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia, against
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
Government officials told The Associated Press that
the separatists are refusing to hand over Aden headquarters and the
presidential palace. The separatist Southern Transitional Council insists
instead on joint committees.
The government officials, in turn, blame the
separatists for inciting “limited clashes” and looting. The officials spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Addressing tribal leaders last week in the Yemen’s
easternmost province of al-Mahra, Interior Minister Ahmed al-Maysari criticized
the power-sharing agreement.
“Does it make sense for your neighbor to come and
tell you what to do in your home? It is a tragedy,” he said.
The agreement dictates that both sides pull their
forces and heavy weapons out of Aden, and says both Hadi’s forces and the
separatists are under control of the the Saudi-led coalition. That effectively
means that if Hadi were to return o Aden, he would only be protected by his
presidential guard.
The infighting between Hadi’s force and the
separatists exposed a rift in the alliance and threatened to further
destabilize the Arab world’s poorest country. Saudi Arabia brought the two
sides to the negotiating table in Riyadh where they signed the agreement on
Nov. 5.
Yemen’s civil war started when the rebel Houthis
overran and captured the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north in
2014. The Saudi-led alliance joined the fray in March 2015, to push the Houthis
back and restore Hadi to power.
The war has killed over 100,000 people, destroyed
Yemen’s infrastructure, displaced millions, and pushed 30 million people to the
brink of famine.