A moment for pretty much the opposite where retreat from the world could actually save every generation has its moment this one is ours. Ringback will again be divided into 2 countries again separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates to class self rule in the south and the state of emergency what does that mean the efforts to end yemen civil war this is inside story. Hello welcome to the program im burnitz. Yemens complex civil war has been going on for 6 years its aggravated decades long divisions between north and south they join to form one country 990 but its been an uneasy union now as the session is in the south so theyre going to govern alone. There were celebrations in aden as the Southern Transitional council declared self rule under state of emergency the s. T. C. Took over the southern port city last year after accusing the government of president abt rubble months or hardy of mismanagement and corruption and in an animal think america is inhumane even as mad then we are now in front of the Yemeni Central Bank in aden after it was taken back by the Southern Forces that are the Southern Transitional council backed the other vital infrastructure in the city and we hope this will be a real breakthrough that will be repeated in all the other liberated southern regions. Last week floods and to wrenshaw rains hit aden hard at least 21 people were killed the s. T. C. Says the government failed to respond to the emergency nationwide 40000000 yemenis are on the verge of famine president hardy says the declaration of self rule is catastrophic and dangerous. North and south yemen were once independent states but north became a republic in 1962 south yemen was established 5 years later they united in 1990 but tensions enjoyed 4 years later the south tried but failed to secede now theyre trying again after 5 years of war started by a saudi arabia u. A. E. Coalition thats try to prop up the internationally recognized Yemeni Government it had lost control of the capital sanaa to iran backed huth the fighters and alqaeda and i saw were staging attacks the Southern Transitional council was set up in 2017 its backed by the u. A. E. Its supposed to be part of a power sharing deal with yemens government that now seems dead in the water. Lets bring in our guests in new york we have al qaida solomon hes the director of the Foreign Affairs office of the Southern Transitional council in london Elizabeth Kandel Senior Research fellow of Pembroke College at the university of oxford and in singapore abdullah abood hes a visiting professor for the middle east institute at the National University of singapore thank you all for joining us elizabeth if i can start with you why has this declaration come now the thing. Well bernard i think the timing is significant now of course its true that the grievances of the south scope back decades and the concept of yemen as a single country is actually very awkward yes it united not until 990 but already within 4 years it was a war so the grievances go back a long way but i do think that picking this moment to announce Self Administration is significant because all eyes were on the cease fire that saudi was trying to broker with that between the government and the who sees at the same time of course the worlds attention is on fighting a virus and what devastation that might cause in yemen and people are pretty much on holiday because its done its the start of ramadan and all eyes of humanitarian organizations are on the flats that have devastated yemen over the last couple of weeks so really this is a moment where no one was looking too much at the south they very of agreement hadnt worked out that was signed between the north and south and so this was the moment to pick to announce what were long standing grievances to solve though is to actually declare finally Self Administration do you think the t. C. Has timed this well well i think. It was that moment of the. Little bit of a few years of the use of the lives of the legitimate government leaders that were going to. Have not eliminated that we are going to be removed as it were. Live the building up to it going to the shores as well because they all of those as lou. Its focused the words of the will but the men that so with the inevitable it was. Theres so much a climate in the in the market of when to now and i think you know there was this service that i have time now it will mean that the world attention is you know with the. Room and it is of obviously the ceasefire that is going on in yemen that also some kind of a dialogue going on you have it you know and all these one on one you know all in mark one level so i think that really from their perspective its quite good but at the same time you know the decision is a good its a very important ramification of the future so you know im. What the last t. C. Has done that hes chosen this moment to put the wheels in motion to see yemens again split between 2 separate countries a north and a south yemen is that where you want to come from this well well. Thats not the reason why this moment was chosen as a matter of fact elizabeth touched up on many of americas arean aspect very well and the grievances in the south that led up to this situation this is a pile up the military and situation is dire and all the worsening there are clear and present danger of there are crawling of Virus Outbreak in the south. North a possible devastating impact and the humanitarian crisis was only worsening with the recent april 21st flash floods so are you that was so deadly so you found yourself in a good position to set yourselves up to push for a separate country south yemen. No that isnt true the the the the s. T. C. Prioritises the wellbeing of the people people are frustrated the grievances have built up theres an accumulation of all these grievances the government has been negligent in providing basic services and now as you know guests mentioned d the you know its ramadan if you dont say its ramadan its the is the outbreak threat there is these flash floods all these aspects and the humanitarian situations all see only worsening because theres no basic services being delivered now electricity sanitation Drinking Water even facilitating aid. Or Civil Servant salaries. This is not due to lack of capacity unfortunately the government is. Meant thing a collective punishment for the southern people its its only the c. C. Was compelled to intervene for the sake of the people and not for political gains or to to up capitalize on a dire or opportunity that some people want to trust trying to do elizabeth could the s. T. C. Of dont mess without the nod from the u. A. E. That its very unclear at the moment that i think what we can stay is that yes the grievances of the south currently mainly represented by the s. T. C. Are there genuine theyve existed stick for a long time but theyve been helped along by support from the u. A. E. Who did originally fund the creation of the s. T. C. In 2017 and at the same time recruit military forces across the south which are essentially despite the riyadh agreement still to the s. T. C. So its difficult to see how the s. T. C. Could move without the say so of the u. A. E. But of course we cant be sure. Our dollar the u. A. E. Has Strategic Interests in that part of the world port access particularly down there does that cloud does what there is to see have done cloud the missions or will it have given some sort of nod for this to go ahead. Well dealing easy theres an interest in yemen especially this argument about. The say there is part of that strategic if you like depth in the region. And an obviously you know the announcement also came which is quite odd that it came from up above the. Word of the head of the sea was that part of the there. Would d be difficult to all. Of this to see to announce this without of that knowledge without of some kind of of the lives of the u. A. E. The only has to do this as only is how destructive to get those young men and a 1000000 figure and some of it explodes. The question is what kind of. And that is that and will to what extent does that conflict in the conflict with the saudi and us this is something that is very difficult to tell because it was sykes. Him that could have coalition are still. Not clear. d that despite all what we see us sometimes conflicting it was there has been no signs from all of them criticizing the fall of one of its own or all of the others so i think the saudis have their own interest obviously the americans have they want to put us in yemen and at some point in this and that its going to kind of conflict rather than a conflict and then maybe a problem of a state but i dont think this this year would have done it without that knowledge from you know it out of evidence and this i dont know whats out ok to get it was a shame it was but. Obviously there is a limit i think radio. Or the s. T. C. Has benefited from you a support financial or militarily you didnt go ahead with this without approval from the u. A. E. Did you. Well the actually supports anyone in in yemen in general who is fighting the iranian backed booties or conducting the counter terrorism. Just so happens that the Southern Forces led by the us is a baby up in most efficient in these fields. That does not necessarily mean that the s. T. C. Is a u. A. E. Project the now the s. T. C. Actually. Came out of the Southern Movement grievances that were calls for over 2 decades the u. A. E. Involvement there were talking about here is roughly 33 to 4 years are going on for 4 years regarding the support of the very forces that youve really benefit your cause is really benefited from u. S. Support isnt it. Well the the cause is in regional and International Security issues such as counterterrorism and the fight on the iranian backed with these yes we have definitely benefited in that sense and there are calls that have been there for over 2 decades such as the from the Southern Movement that gave birth to the Southern Resistance which then gave birth to a political entity that is a genuine representative of the southern people which is the Southern Transitional council now the u. A. E. Role in this is positive it has actually helped and many humanitarian fields it also has helped in the fight on terrorism. The Southern Transitional council. In the end prioritizes the people of the demands of the people regardless of what the Coalition Times feel. Needs to be done and the s. T. C. Will prioritize the demands of the people and thats going from basic services to a genuine inclusive representation for negotiation Peace Process ok elizabeth whats the who thiis support whats going on in the south i would they be interested to see a more independent minded southern part of yemen does that help them. I think what the who see this will be keen to see is this rift reemerging in the coalition it was clear that the riyadh agreement signed between the head of government and the s. T. C. In november really just kicked the can down the road it didnt solve anything it didnt solve the issue of southern secession and it put in place a whole load of promises and timelines that havent been kept no doubt that this benefits the who sees because it makes the coalition a far less strong in fighting that what the who sees though actually wants a separate secessionist Southern State thats a lot less clear because even though that would put them in charge or at least in control of most of the north really the resources are in the south the Major Corporate money is the Cottage Industries that work like fisheries etc and most importantly the oil and the gas so in the short term the heat is probably quite pleased about this and the long term much less clear. What do you think about the other who think long term interest would they be willing to stomach some sort of more independent state in the south of yemen. Well i would agree with. The list in this case that the whole of you see any kind of conflict within it who. Serves their best interests at least in the shutdown. Obviously this has quite a lot of expense but i think that what these have all really is to see that we are going to see a unified country and they all believe what its all really i mean thats a subtle and. I dont see it you know in there but on terror has. A lot of people that are into this but i think certainly the bar of the media bill which for the short to medium done with it is and i think they then realized this and this is wiped out really pushing forward towards modern took control of the aunties there and then i think they have said they have almost sensed from dont look. So good to get that you know that they couldnt really reach in some kind of a settlement between them and not aggression between the if thats ok i mean in one sense and floor to all a certain extent there will probably let go all of their ambitions and rolling over the whole country as long as they can get some. Hands of the oil and i think this is what they are kind of medium all short term to do exams that id. Rather you havent carried all of south of yemen with you not supported by every governor at when you say you speaking on behalf of the people of southern yemen youre not speaking on behalf of all of them are you. Well i dont think theres any entity probably to this day that actually represent the entrepreneur represents 100 percent of any nation there is the entities that have the best majority such as the Southern Transitional council that has a vast majority. Support by the people and due to failed institutions the only way the that we can actually measure this support is through the 1000000 person protest that that the s. T. C. Continues to bring out. Or that continues to come out in support for the s. T. C. Rather. Want to touch up on the ceasefire. Was mentioned the Southern Transitional council as appearing to all the security generals calls d that really calls the special envoys calls as a matter of fact president the baby was the 1st to call for a cease fire before all. The they have called for it. So that we can the battle this pandemic properly. As for the riyadh agreement the Southern Transitional council has implemented. The major points on the reality grima 2 while the the gentleman government has actually walked away from it and in fact actually done the opposite of implementing some of its parts not the s. T. C. Allowed the Prime Minister to return the. Provided full access to the military sites they solicited detainee exchange theyve even though with 2 military forces now if theres a spoiler in this it would be the the government unfortunately who not implement the agreement nor are they looking for any political. Settlement in the near future our elizabeth are we heading a long way down the road but do you see this eventually ending up with the with another independent south yemen a country its a republic of south yemen or whatever the 2 cant the 2 places yemen splitting into 2 ultimately i think what we do know is that yemen as one single entity is problematic. But i dont necessarily think that means that yemen has to entities north and south is going to solve all the problems and in fact when the south did eventually go here at the end of the sixtys even then it was not consensual across the governor if that were incorporated into that so the south is not necessarily a popular concept across the south even so what i think we might have eventually is yemen split into further parts which might become federal regions but i think you made a very good point bernard and saying that its not clear that the s. T. C. Represents even those who do support a separate south and side the south surely its the loudest voice and i agree with alqaida there were millions on the streets in support of it but already today weve had declarations by the governors of had them out of shape were of southern governor its youve said no were not on board with the Southern Transitional council and all right you could say that those governors were appointed by president but its not at all clear that in those eastern governorates their support for the s. T. C. Or for breakaway south are dollar help us understand where we are their relationship with the u. A. E. And saudi arabia at the very very top the both leaders get on well but whats happening here because saudi arabias been looking for a way out the u. A. E. Is essentially pulled his own troops out of yemen whats going on between these 2 countries and how will that affect what the s. T. C. Is done. A lot of folks a lot of the omegas his so its a very difficult to tell because. As you correctly pointed out. That our there is a very solid relationship going on between the leaders and it all kind of is as well as portability and so many of the things they have also cocreated that of course leaving the on the Political Economic and social issues and it buying. Ground for the vote and that is and they seem to be working towards more british and more of the many and yet we see that there how are. Some kind of conflicting objectives of conflict in vision is this particularly relevant but also in other areas and youre there in the way you are with the role of i was quite. As likely more of the. Fool to until all are beautiful and so you go in this relationship. And now what is going on where the u. A. E. Is supporting the south separately as well as d. C. Goes it gains the objectives of the a coalition itself which is headed by a solid. And out of the water or do you want if i didnt. Im of course you know talking about them and separating and what of this sort of going to this i think this is on and on and its just a matter of time and a lot of thought perhaps that will separate just a muppet of are when and how and then and what portion so it seemed out of the way he is pushing this with the s. T. C. That its not that if you like support when and most of south yemen as well and its all still playing into the hands of it and playing into allowing a 2nd down in the menu because there was. Correlatives though and big political going to be much more. Occupied. Look im forgetting the move your joke that. d the war of yemen has actually started or to allow it is very confusing because you know. Whats going on a quickly from you elizabeth what do you think saudi arabia is going to do now it doesnt want to see the who these strengthen the longest southern border now i think saudi arabia actually is quite keen to get out of yemen now and thats probably why its offered a unilateral ceasefire heres these were on the front foot actually so they havent agreed to the cease fire but now weve seen Saudi Arabia Air extend it for a further month i think theyll try to pull back i think both parties actually the u. A. E. And saudi arabia are probably pretty war weary and with this massive. Drop in the oil price its expensive financially militarily and in terms of International Credibility and reputation i think theyre going to step back. Well unfortunately were out of time for today but thank you very much for taking the time to join us thanks to our. Elizabeth kendall and our booed thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our web site aljazeera dot com and theres more debate on our Facebook Page facebook dot com forward slash a. J. The inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter we are at a. J. The inside story for me Bernard Smith and the whole team here by. Mum. They say to really know someone you must walk a mile in their shoes. Follow in their footsteps stay forge their way in the was. 0 shares these personal journeys. Inspiring stories of people perseverance on the chosen path. Witness documentaries on aljazeera. There is no channel of coverage of world news like legion the scale of this campus like nothing youve ever seen at the tulkarem what we want to know is how do these things affect people we revisit places and stay even when there are no International Headlines aljazeera really invests in that and thats a privilege as a job. 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