Yemen provinces reject separatists’ claim to self-rule

SANAA: Authorities in five southern provinces in Yemen on Sunday rejected a separatist group’s claim to self-rule.
The separatists’ Southern Transitional Council scrapped a peace deal with the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and declared a state of emergency overnight.
The separatists said they would “self-govern” the key southern port city of Aden and other southern provinces, accusing the government of corruption and mismanagement.
The government said local and security authorities in the provinces of Hadramawt, Abyan, Shabwa, Al-Mahra and the remote island of Socotra dismissed the move as a “clear and definite coup.” Some of the provinces issued their own statements condemning it.
Peter Salisbury, a Yemen expert at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said tensions between Hadi’s government and the separatists have been rising for months. He said both sides have exchanged accusations of noncompliance with the peace deal, and were building up forces with intent to resume infighting.
In November, the two sides reached a power-sharing agreement meant to end the infighting and unify ranks against the Iran-backed Houthi militia. But the agreement has yet to be implemented.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis took control of the country’s north, including the capital, Sanaa. An Arab coalition intervened against the Iranian-backed group on the side of the government the following year.