Yemen’s southern separatists said on Wednesday they have suspended talks with the government, part of a Saudi-brokered power-sharing deal, blaming their rivals for violating a ceasefire.
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) has been fighting government forces and their allies in southern Yemen since last year.
Despite signing a deal with the government in Riyadh last year, the STC has already abandoned it once, when they declared self-rule in April in southern areas under their control.
Yet, they gave that up a few months later when Riyadh interfered, promising a quicker time frame to implement the Riyadh Agreement, which will give the STC a number of positions in the government.
This time, the secessionists blame government-allied forces for attacking them in the southern province of Abyan.
They accused the government forces of carrying out 350 violations, leaving 75 members of the STC forces killed or injured since a ceasefire was declared in June.
The group also blamed the government forces for attacking civilians in other provinces as well as for the collapse of public services in south Yemen.
The STC, formed in 2017, is backed by the United Arab Emirates, while the government of President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi is backed by Saudi Arabia.
All four parties remain allies within the Saudi-led coalition formed in 2015 to fight the Houthi rebels, who have taken control of the capital Sana’a and other cities in northern Yemen since 2014.
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