Yemeni Gov't Demands South Separatists Abandon Aden Positions As Prerequisite For Dialogue

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Yemeni Gov't Demands South Separatists Abandon Aden Positions as Prerequisite for Dialogue

DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) Yemen's Foreign Ministry has demanded that the separatists from the Southern Transitional Council leave occupied positions in Aden as a prerequisite for a dialogue, Vice Foreign Minister Mohammad Hadhrami said on Wednesday.

Last week, southern separatists essentially seized the city of Aden, including military bases, state buildings, and the presidential palace. Over 40 people were killed in the clashes between the transitional council and the government. On Sunday, the separatists reportedly agreed to join a ceasefire in Aden and started their withdrawal from positions under their control in the city. Saudi Arabia has invited the parties to engage in dialogue in a bid to save its coalition, of which both the Yemeni government and the southern council are part, against the Houthi movement.

"The government has welcomed the call of brotherly Saudi Arabia to summon a meeting in order to stop the consequences of Aden's coup. However, prior to that, what was said in the coalition's statement must be fulfilled. The Transitional Council must abandon the positions it seized during the past days before any dialogue starts," Hadhrami tweeted.

Since 2015, Yemen has been gripped by a civil war between the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Islamist Houthi movement.

The southern region of Yemen is seeking independence and the return of the status quo that existed before the unification of North and South Yemen into a single state in 1990.