Yemen Govt Rules Out Talks With Separatists Unless They Surrender Aden

While the ceasefire in South Yemen remains in place, it no longer seems that previously agreed upon peace talks are going to happen, with the Yemeni government now saying they will not accept any talks with the southern separatists unless they surrender the city of Aden, the only city they control.

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized Aden over the weekend, and splitting the invasion between Saudi-backed forces and UAE-backed forces. A ceasefire was reached, and talks were meant to resolve this.

But the Saudi-backed government insists that they’re conditioning talks on the other side’s surrender, which is the exact same standard they’ve put on the Yemen invasion in the first place, which is why they’ve been fighting the Shi’ite Houthis for five years without resolving it.

A settlement of this sort is even less likely with the STC, which has a roughly equally-sized fighting force as the government, and have always intended to make control over the country’s south, and Aden especially an issue.