Long-standing separatist ambitions in South Yemen could be coming to a head soon, with troops loyal to the Saudi-backed government massing in the city of Aden. They are preparing to resist calls by separatists to launch a full-scale uprising.
The Southern Transitional Council (STC), which envisions itself becoming an interim government after this uprising, is said also to be mobilizing, with its own forces preparing to seize government buildings across the south.
The STC is blaming Saudi Arabia for mounting corruption across the south, and has long envisioned ending the Saudi invasion by just splitting the country along the pre-unification borders. Pro-Saudi officials say that the STC must abandon all plans, saying they would benefit Iran.
Yemen was unified militarily in 1990, when North Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh conquered the South. Since then, separatists have remained an active movement in the south, envisioning reclaiming the lost country. The separatists are broadly aligned with the UAE in recent months.
That’s the thing about absolute rule by royal decree… those royals think they have all the answers and everyone else be damned, including other royal regimes. Hubris checking hubris, I love it.