Current:Home > Contact-usYemen’s southern leader renews calls for separate state at UN-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Yemen’s southern leader renews calls for separate state at UN
View Date:2025-01-13 05:11:12
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of heavily armed and well-financed militias, said Friday that he will prioritize the creation of a separate country in negotiations with their rivals, the Houthi rebels.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s comments, in an interview with The Associated Press, come days after the conclusion of landmark talks in Riyadh between the Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting them in the country’s civil war. The remarks signal that his group might not get on board for a solution without inclusion of a separate state’s creation.
Al-Zubaidi has a dual role in Yemeni politics — he is vice president of the country but also the leader of a separatist group that has joined the internationally recognized coalition government seated in the southern city of Aden.
His trip to the high-level leaders meeting of the U.N. General Assembly was aimed at amplifying the call for southern separatism, which has taken a backseat to discussions aimed at ending the wider war. Earlier this year, the head of the country’s internationally recognized government brushed aside the issue.
Speaking to the AP on the sidelines, al-Zubaidi noted that the Riyadh talks were preliminary and said his transitional council is planning to participate at a later stage.
“We are asking for the return of the southern state, with complete sovereignty, and this will happen through beginning negotiations with the Houthis and the negotiations will be, surely, long,” al-Zubaidi said in his 40th floor hotel suite towering over the U.N. compound. “This is the goal of our strategy for negotiations with the Houthis.”
Yemen’s war began in 2014 when the Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country’s north. In response, the Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
The five days of talks that ended Wednesday represented the highest-level, public negotiations with the Houthis in the kingdom. The conflict has become enmeshed in a wider regional proxy war the Saudi kingdom faced against longtime regional rival Iran.
Al-Zubaidi said he welcomed Saudi Arabia’s effort to mediate, and that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been staunch allies throughout the long-running conflict. However the Gulf powers have at times found themselves on different sides of prolonged infighting, with the separatists at one point seizing control of Aden.
Asked directly whether the UAE had provided money or weapons, he did not specify.
While Al-Zubaidi repeatedly stressed that the Yemeni government’s priority is establishment of a southern state, with the same borders that existed before the 1990 Yemeni unification, he acknowledged that ultimately his people will decide. He said that, in accordance with international law, they will be able to vote in a referendum for alternatives including a single federal government.
“I am in New York and meters away from the headquarters of the United Nations, and we are only asking for what is stated, under the laws the United Nations made and on which it was founded,” he said. “It is our right to return to the borders of before 1990.”
___
To more coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly
veryGood! (411)
Related
- Lunchables get early dismissal: Kraft Heinz pulls the iconic snack from school lunches
- Luminescent photo of horseshoe crab wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize
- 'Star Trek' actor Patrick Stewart says he's braver as a performer than he once was
- Chris Evans’ Wedding Ring Is on Full Display After Marrying Alba Baptista
- Diamond Sports Group can emerge out of bankruptcy after having reorganization plan approved
- UAW breaks pattern of adding factories to strikes on Fridays, says more plants could come any time
- How inflation's wrath is changing the way Gen Z spends money
- The AP Interview: EU President Michel warns about spillover of Israel-Hamas war into Europe
- Chicago Bears will ruin Caleb Williams if they're not careful | Opinion
- France investigates suspected poisoning of Russian journalist who staged on-air protest against Ukraine war
Ranking
- Vegas Sphere reports revenue decline despite hosting UFC 306, Eagles residency
- Israeli family mourns grandfather killed by Hamas and worries about grandmother, a captive in Gaza
- Ban on electronic skill games in Virginia reinstated by state Supreme Court
- Nelly and Ashanti Make Their Rekindled Romance Instagram Official
- 'The Penguin' spoilers! Colin Farrell spills on that 'dark' finale episode
- Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer struggles to poke holes in Caroline Ellison's testimony
- Sen. Cory Booker says $6 billion in Iranian oil assets is frozen: A dollar of it has not gone out
- Want a Drastic Hair Change? Follow These Tips From Kristin Cavallari's Hairstylist Justine Marjan
Recommendation
-
Rita Ora pays tribute to Liam Payne at MTV Europe Music Awards: 'He brought so much joy'
-
Louisiana considers creating hunting season for once-endangered black bears
-
Nelly and Ashanti Make Their Rekindled Romance Instagram Official
-
Armenian president approves parliament’s decision to join the International Criminal Court
-
Deion Sanders addresses trash thrown at team during Colorado's big win at Texas Tech
-
Schools near a Maui wildfire burn zone are reopening. Parents wrestle with whether to send kids back
-
Why Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian Isn't Ready to Share Details of Her Terrifying Hospitalization
-
Solar eclipse livestream: Watch Saturday's rare 'ring of fire' annual eclipse live