Southern Transitional Council faces unsure future amid inner divisions over plans to disband with its chief in exile.
Printed On 10 Jan 2026
1000’s of Yemenis have taken to the streets in Aden to indicate help for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) amid conflicting stories concerning the separatist group’s purported plans to disband following lethal confrontations with Saudi Arabia-backed forces.
STC supporters chanted slogans in opposition to Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally backed authorities in demonstrations on Saturday in Aden’s Khor Maksar district, one of many group’s strongholds.
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The gang waved the flag of the previous South Yemen, which was an unbiased state between 1967 and 1990.
“Right this moment, the folks of the south gathered from all provinces within the capital, Aden, to reiterate what they’ve been saying persistently for years and all through the final month: we wish an unbiased state,” protester Yacoub al-Safyani informed the AFP information company.
The general public present of solidarity got here after a profitable Saudi-backed offensive to drive the STC out of components of southern and japanese Yemen that it had seized in the direction of the tip of final 12 months.
The confrontations uncovered heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a prime ally that the Saudi authorities have accused of backing the STC.
The group had taken over the provinces of Hadramout, on the border with Saudi Arabia, and al-Mahra, a land mass representing about half the nation.
After weeks of Saudi-led efforts to de-escalate, Yemeni authorities forces, backed by the Gulf nation, launched an assault on the STC, forcing the separatists out of Hadramout, the presidential palace in Aden and navy camps in al-Mahra.
On Friday, an STC delegation that travelled to Riyadh for talks had announced the dissolution of the group in an obvious admission of defeat.
Secretary-Normal Abdulrahman Jalal al-Sebaihi mentioned the group would shut down all of its our bodies and workplaces inside and out of doors of Yemen, citing inner disagreements and mounting regional strain.
Nonetheless, Anwar al-Tamimi, an STC spokesman, contested the choice, writing on X that solely the total council may take such steps beneath its president – highlighting inner divisions inside the separatist motion.
Throughout Saturday’s protest in Aden, STC supporters held up posters of the group’s chief Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who was smuggled from Aden to the UAE this week after failing to show as much as the talks within the Saudi capital.
Saudi-backed forces have accused the UAE of serving to him escape on a flight that was tracked to a navy airport in Abu Dhabi.
Authorities in Aden which can be aligned with Yemen’s Saudi-backed authorities on Friday had ordered a ban on demonstrations within the southern metropolis, citing safety issues, in response to an official directive seen by Reuters.
