Roundup: Saudi-brokered deal on Yemen at risk of collapse

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-06 02:40:50|Editor: yan
Video PlayerClose

ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's pro-government forces attempted on Thursday to advance militarily towards areas controlled by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the country's southern part.

The advancement sparked sporadic clashes with the STC's security units that deployed to secure the state institutions in the country's southern province of Abyan and combat terrorism there.

Local sources confirmed to Xinhua that two people were killed and several others injured following the sporadic clashes that occurred in Ahwar district of Abyan.

The fresh eruption of the armed confrontations is posing a serious threat to the success of the power-sharing deal signed in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh last month.

An official of Abyan's security command blamed the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah party for pushing the situation into military escalation in an attempt to abort the implementation of Riyadh deal.

"Scores of fighters linked to the Islamist Islah party launched attacks against the checkpoints of the STC's security units in Abyan," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We instantly informed the Saudi-led Arab coalition about the repeated breaches of the Riyadh deal committed by fighters of the Islamist party," he said.

Last month, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and Yemen's government to hold reconciliation talks, which succeeded in reaching a deal to form a new technocrat cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.

But numerous obstacles prevented the implementation of the deal's provisions including failure to form a new government or achieving permanent stability in the country's southern part.

The main points of the deal also included the return of the exiled Yemeni government to Aden and the unification of all military units under the authority of the country's interior and defense ministries.

The Saudi-brokered deal excluded the Iranian-backed Houthis who are still controlling the capital Sanaa and other northern provinces of the war-torn Arab country.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country and seized all northern areas including Sanaa.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011105521386087911