The division of Yemen: A catastrophe planned by Brotherhood and Houthis

Nora Bandari

Yemen has recently witnessed new developments, especially after the Houthi militia’s coup efforts to control the southern governorates, which were rejected by the Southern Transitional Council.

It has worked to strongly confront the Houthis and defeat them. On 25 April 2020, the Transitional Council declared autonomy in the areas that it controlled in southern Yemen.

It also declared a state of emergency in the city of Aden and all the southern governorates, which sparked many reactions between supporters and opponents.

Declaration of autonomy

In the statement issued and published by the Yemeni media, regarding the declaration of autonomy, the Transitional Council stated that it took this decision because of the continued intransigence of the Yemeni government in carrying out its duties and harnessing the resources and property of the Yemeni people to finance corruption activities, and transfer them to the accounts of the corrupt abroad.

It is noteworthy that the southerners previously sought to obtain autonomy in 2019, especially because of the wars Yemen has suffered since the Houthi coup in 2015, and its control of the capital, Sanaa, and a number of northern governorates, which prompted the Arab coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia to conclude the Riyadh Agreement in November 2019.

It was agreed to form a joint government, in consultation between the Transitional Council and the legitimate government and to end the ongoing struggle for power in southern Yemen, but the Brotherhood in the government and the Houthi militia sought all their tools to thwart this agreement because it is the end of their presence in Yemen, and then the project failed Iranian plans to control Yemen.

Reactions

Regarding the transitional council’s decision this time, there were mixed reactions, that the transitional council’s decision resulted from the Brotherhood’s endeavors in the legitimate government to thwart the Riyadh agreement, and give them support to the Houthis.

The presence of the Brotherhood and Houthi remained. Therefore, it sought to declare autonomy, and this view was adopted by Yemeni activists and political analysts in Yemen.

As for the other opinion, the transitional council is thereby violating and obstructing the implementation of the provisions of the Riyadh agreement.

A member of the Houthi High Political Council, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, commented on the announcement of the Transitional Council of Self-Management of the South, in a tweet, wondering who is actually blocking the Riyadh agreement.

On the other side, the representative of the Transitional Council in Europe, Ahmed Omar bin Farid, stressed in a tweet the preservation of the property of the people of the northern governorates in the country of the south, indicating that the council had previously declared a firm position that it applies to the northerners in the rights and duties that apply to their brothers in the south.

The Yemeni sheikh, Shaja Husam Bahibeh Al-Muradi from the Ma’rib tribe, supported the move of the transitional council, pointing on his Facebook page, that whoever handed over the north to Houthis had no right to object to what the transitional council was doing in the south.

The Yemeni politician, Ali Al-Bakheeti, added in a tweet that the Southern Transitional Council’s move is a natural result of the failure of the legitimacy supporting the Brotherhood, which insulted the institutions, made chaos and ruin in Yemen, and thwarted all attempts to restore the state from the Houthis.

Egypt called on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the Southern Transitional Council, to reverse its decision to announce self-administration, expressing their rejection of any unilateral change in the situation in Yemen, demanding a commitment to implement the provisions of the Riyadh Agreement, regarding the settlement in Yemen, and canceling any step contrary to it.

The United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, called on all parties to show restraint and not to act that would escalate the situation.

In a statement to the Reference, Anwar Al-Ashwal, a Yemeni political analyst, indicated that the recent repercussions in the south, and the announcement of the Transitional Council in Aden, the statement of emergency and autonomy, confused the scene in Yemen and complicated it.

He added that perhaps if the situation continues in this case, it may lead to a state in the south, and another in the north, i.e. the return of a united Yemen to the pre-1990 era.

Al-Ashwal said, “There are a number of reasons that brought Yemen to this dangerous juncture on the future of Yemen’s unity and the aspirations of the Yemeni people to the north and south, the most prominent of which is the mismanagement of the crisis by the legitimate government.”