Yemen separatist leader fails to attend crisis talks as Saudi-UAE rift deepens

By Ahmed Elimam, Enas Alashray and Maha El Dahan

Jan 7 (Reuters) - The leader of Yemen's southern separatists failed to board a flight to Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday and his fate was unclear, clouding efforts to contain a military escalation that has caused a major rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A fast-moving crisis in Yemen has ignited a feud between the two most powerful countries in the oil-rich Gulf and fractured a coalition headed by Yemen's internationally recognised government that is fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.

After Aidarous al-Zubaidi's unexplained absence from the Riyadh talks, his Southern Transitional Council said he was overseeing military and security operations in the southern port city of Aden. Reuters could not verify his whereabouts.

Underscoring the tensions, Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council expelled Zubaidi and accused him of treason.

'THREAT TO BOMB ADEN'

Senior STC official Amr Al Beidh said Aden was still under the group's control. Beidh said Saudi Arabia told Zubaidi it would bomb Aden if he did not attend the talks.

Zubaidi did not travel to Riyadh for the meeting because he did not want to leave a security vacuum in the port city, said Beidh, speaking from Abu Dhabi in an online briefing. There was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia to Beidh's comments.

Another senior STC official said he and other members of a delegation had arrived in the Saudi capital and talks would start. Hours earlier, the group had said it had lost contact with its delegation.

"I have arrived in Riyadh accompanied by colleagues from Aden, and in a positive atmosphere, we will begin a series of meetings to prepare for a South-South dialogue under the sponsorship of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Mohammad Al Ghaithi said in a post on X.

It was unclear who would lead the STC in those talks.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, were advancing towards Aden, Saudi state television reported without elaborating.

The Saudi coalition also said it carried out limited pre-emptive airstrikes in the southern province of al-Dhalea, Zubaidi's birthplace, after monitoring the movements of armed forces that had left their camps.

Local sources and sources within the STC reported more than 15 strikes in the province.

LATEST FIGHTING PUTS SAUDI, UAE ON OPPOSITE SIDES

The dramatic developments dashed hopes for swift resolution of the recent turmoil in Yemen's south and an end to fighting that erupted last month between the STC, backed by the UAE, and Yemen's Saudi-backed internationally recognised government.

The UAE has pursued an assertive foreign policy and carved its own sphere of influence across the Middle East and Africa, a strategy in the spotlight after its rare military escalation with Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

The country, a regional business and trade hub, has used alliances with states or proxies and financial support mainly to counter what it views as the destabilising, existential threat of political Islam.

Zubaidi had been due to travel to Saudi Arabia days after Yemen's government said it had asked Riyadh to host a forum on the southern issue.

But on Wednesday, the Saudi-backed presidential council stripped Zubaidi of his membership and referred him to the public prosecutor on charges including high treason, state news agency SABA said.

The decision, issued by presidential council chairman Rashad al-Alimi, accused Zubaidi of inciting armed rebellion, attacking constitutional authorities and committing abuses against civilians in southern Yemen.

Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson of the Saudi-backed coalition, said there were indications that Zubaidi had moved large forces and that the coalition had asked the vice president of the STC, Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, known as Abu Zara’a, to impose security. Abu Zara'a had met the Saudi defence minister in Riyadh on January 5.

LONG CIVIL WAR

Saudi Arabia and the UAE first intervened in Yemen more than a decade ago after the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014. 

The UAE joined the Saudi-backed coalition the following year in support of the internationally recognised government. 

The Southern Transitional Council, set up in 2017 with UAE backing, ultimately joined the government coalition.

For years, it has been part of that administration, which controls southern and eastern Yemen and is backed by Gulf states.

But last month STC forces suddenly seized swathes of territory, shifting the delicate balance of power and pitting Saudi Arabia against the UAE.

The UAE pulled its forces out of Yemen last month under pressure from Saudi Arabia, which saw the southern advance on its borders as a threat to its national security. The UAE has called for de-escalation in Yemen since.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray; Writing by Maha El Dahan and Michael Georgy; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Clarence Fernandez and Alex Richardson)