After four days of fighting around the southern port of Aden, the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has agreed to a ceasefire with the Saudi-led coalition, and to talks.
The STC had captured the presidential palace in Aden last week, and
later the rest of the city, the historic capital of South Yemen. The
ceasefire is so far holding, although clearly in a fragile state.
Assuming it continues to hold, the deal is meant to give way to
reconciliation talks in Riyadh. No date has been set for hat, nor indeed
even a specific agenda for how the talks might go.
The separatists, after all, have made no secret of their desire to
reestablish an independent South Yemen at the end of this war, and Aden
would be the capital for them to do so in.
Though the Saudi-backed government had always presented southern
autonomy as a matter to be left until after the current war, and in all
honesty probably ignored then, they may have a hard time selling the STC
on ceding back Aden without some big assurances about the future.
South Yemen Ceasefire Takes Hold, Talks Planned
Separatists agree to Riyadh talks, no date set so far
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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