Secessionist leader took a boat to Berbera and then boarded plane that flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu, coalition says
\n Davos
\nThe Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has announced that the leader of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland after skipping planned peace talks in Riyadh, accusing the UAE of smuggling him out of the country.
\nIn a statement on Thursday, the coalition said Aidarous al-Zubaidi \u201cescaped in the dead of night\u201d on Wednesday on board a vessel that departed Aden in Yemen for the port of Berbera in Somaliland.
\nAl-Zubaidi then boarded a plane along with UAE officers and flew to Somalia\u2019s capital, Mogadishu. \u201cThe plane turned off its identification systems over the Gulf of Oman, then turned it back on 10 minutes prior to arrival at Al Reef military airport in Abu Dhabi,\u201d the statement said.
\nThere was no immediate comment from the STC or the UAE.
\nSomalia\u2019s immigration authority said in a statement that it is investigating reports \u201cconcerning the alleged unauthorized use of Somalia\u2019s national air space and airports to facilitate the movements of a fugitive political figure,\u201d which it added would be a \u201cserious violation\u201d of the country\u2019s sovereignty.
\nIf confirmed, the move could deepen the feud between Saudi Arabia and the UAE that came to light after the STC, which Riyadh says is backed by Abu Dhabi, launched an offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni government troops in December.
\nThe STC \u2013 which initially supported Yemen\u2019s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen \u2013 is seeking an independent state in southern Yemen. It seized the provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra, which border Saudi Arabia, in a campaign that Riyadh described as a red line for its national security.
\nThe Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on the Yemeni port of Mukalla on December 30, targeting what it called a UAE-linked weapons shipment, and backed a call by Yemen\u2019s internationally recognised government for Emirati forces to withdraw from the country.
\nFor its part, Abu Dhabi denied that the shipment contained weapons and expressed a commitment to ensure Riyadh\u2019s security. On the same day, it announced an end to what it called its \u201ccounterterrorism mission\u201d in Yemen.
\nYemeni government troops, backed by Saudi air attacks, went on to reclaim Hadramout and al-Mahra, and the STC said on Saturday that it would attend peace talks hosted by Riyadh.
\nBut the coalition said al-Zubaidi was not on board the Yemeni Air flight that took the STC delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday.
\nIt launched strikes on al-Zubaidi\u2019s forces in Yemen\u2019s Al-Dale governorate, while the Yemeni government\u2019s ground forces moved on the STC-controlled Aden and seized the presidential palace in the city.
\nAl-Zubaidi \u2018a fugitive\u2019
\nThe head of the internationally recognised government\u2019s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has meanwhile announced that al-Zubaidi has been removed from the council for \u201ccommitting high treason\u201d.
\nAl-Alimi said he has asked the country\u2019s attorney general to launch an investigation against al-Zubaidi and take legal action.
\nThe Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber, posted a picture with 19 officials on Thursday, saying he met the STC delegation and discussed a conference on South Yemen to be held in Riyadh soon.
\nHe said al-Zubaidi\u2019s actions \u201charmed the Southern cause and did not serve it, and damaged the unity of the front in confronting the enemies\u201d, referring to the Houthis.
\nMohammed Al-Ghaith, a senior official of the STC who is part of the delegation in Riyadh, said on Thursday that their delegation had held productive talks with the Saudi ambassador.
\nAl Jazeera correspondent Hashem Ahelbarra said that, having fled Yemen, al-Zubaidi was now out of the picture politically, as others within the STC were meeting the Saudis in Riyadh and would potentially take over as leaders of the movement.
\n\u201cFrom a Saudi perspective, today he\u2019s a fugitive,\u201d said Ahelbarra.
\n\u201cHe had a chance to fly to Riyadh to negotiate a settlement. From now onwards, from a Saudi perspective, his era is over and that explains why some of his lieutenants are now in Riyadh, taking over as potential leaders.\u201d
\nIn particular, one of those present in Riyadh, Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, a senior STC official and commander of the Southern Giants Brigade, was likely to \u201chave a bigger say in the future\u201d, he said.
\n\u201cHe took over Aden yesterday, his troops are present there to prevent the secessionists from taking over,\u201d said Ahelbarra.
\n\u201cIn a way, he is some sort of replacement for Aidarous al-Zubaidi.\u201d
\nWhile only days ago, the STC had announced a move that it said would lead to an independent southern Yemeni state within years, \u201cthe idea of secession is no longer on the table.
\n\u201cNow the talk is about a federal system with one authority,\u201d he said.
\nAhelbarra said the fallout from al-Zubaidi\u2019s flight had exposed the rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE like never before.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t get any sense of a compromise or an attempt at reconciliation,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt gives you a sense that we are likely to see more strained relations in the upcoming days about the future of Yemen.\u201d
\nHe said the Saudis were insisting that the roadmap for Yemen would be resolved in Riyadh, and that they would tolerate no further dissent.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s totally clear to me that they have the upper hand when it comes to how to go forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Secessionist leader took a boat to Berbera and then boarded plane that flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu, coalition says Davos The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has announced that the leader of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland after skipping planned peace talks in Riyadh, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n