Yemen gov’t, separatists set to form Cabinet

RIYADH — Yemen's internationally recognised government and southern separatists will form a Cabinet within a week as part of a Saudi-sponsored power sharing agreement, a Riyadh-led coalition said on Thursday, after a series of delays.

The so-called Riyadh Agreement which was struck late last year was designed to mend a rift between the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) and the government, both technically allies in the war against Houthi rebels who have seized much of Yemen's north.

But the deal has repeatedly stalled, further complicating the long and wider conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition backing the government and the Iran-backed Houthis who control the capital Sanaa.

“Consensus has been reached on the formation of the Yemeni government, comprised of 24 ministers, including ministers from the STC and political components in Yemen,” said a coalition source, according to a report carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Cabinet would be announced immediately after a military reorganisation is completed “within a week”, the source said.

The reorganisation would see armed forces from both sides separated and withdrawn from the southern port city of Aden and the flashpoint province of Abyan, the source added.

Coalition military observers began implementing the redeployment process on Thursday, with pro-government sources reporting “limited clashes” in Abyan between both sides.

Yemen’s southern separatists, who have long agitated for independence, signed the power-sharing deal in the Saudi capital in November 2019.

But the pact quickly became defunct, failing to meet deadlines for key measures including forming a new Cabinet with equal representation for southerners.

The tussle for control of the south exposed divisions between the coalition partners — Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, and the United Arab Emirates, a backer and funder of the STC.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in Yemen’s long conflict which has triggered what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.