Yemeni separatists ‘determined’ in independence drive after battlefield wins

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Yemen’s separatists are determined to establish a new state after seizing swathes of territory this month, their spokesperson told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, but added that secession would only happen when conditions are right.

The group’s staggering advance has sparked fresh upheaval in Yemen after more than a decade of war between the Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed Houthi rebels who forced the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Despite a wave of air strikes targeting their positions and calls from Saudi Arabia to fall back, the STC says it will hold its ground and reinforce its territory.

“What happened recently has made southerners more determined — psychologically and emotionally — to restore the state,” STC spokesperson Anwar Al-Tamimi told AFP during an interview in Abu Dhabi.

“When the appropriate historical, international and regional moment arrives will we be ready to restore our state. Whether it will be in the long term, medium term or immediately, that will depend on the circumstances,” Tamimi added.

Experts say the separatists’ successes have embarrassed Saudi Arabia, a regional heavyweight and the main backer of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

Riyadh has repeatedly demanded the STC pull back from recently seized territory, including areas along its southern borders, and has launched air strikes targeting their positions.

The Saudi-led coalition also targeted an alleged UAE arms shipment at an STC-controlled port on Tuesday and called on Abu Dhabi to pull its forces from Yemen within 24 hours, with the Emiratis agreeing to comply.

The UAE-backed STC is a coalition of groups that long vowed to bring back South Yemen, which existed from 1967 until its unification in 1990 with North Yemen.

They now control almost all of South Yemen’s former territory following their lighting offensive in early December, with the STC holding more land than any other single faction in Yemen’s fractious political landscape.