Saudi Arabia welcomed a call by Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Rashad Al-Alimi this week for all the southern Yemeni factions to meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh “to develop a comprehensive vision” that will fulfill the aspirations of the people of South Yemen.
The call by the Saudi-backed Council came a day after the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) announced plans for declaring the south of the country an independent state from the north.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit welcomed Al-Alimi’s call to discuss just solutions to the southern issue.
The situation in southern Yemen, Aboul Gheit said, has “well-known historical dimensions and includes legitimate issues that must be addressed at the negotiating table within a comprehensive Yemeni framework.”
He reiterated the Arab League’s consistent position, as reflected in its repeated resolutions on the Yemeni crisis, which is based on a full commitment to Yemen’s unity and the preservation of its territorial integrity.
Saudi Arabia’s de-escalating move came after the STC withdrew its forces from the eastern governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahra that it had tried to control on 2 December.
Government forces and the civil administration regained control of the two governorates after diplomatic and military pressure from Saudi Arabia managed to put things back to where they were before the STC incursion.
The developments started early last month when STC militias went into the eastern governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahra. The move infuriated the Saudis, who have long borders with the oil-rich Hadramout region.
The neighbouring Sultanate of Oman was also wary of STC militias in Al-Mahra.
As the southern militias took control of military and oil installations, driving the PLC forces and civil administration out, Saudi Arabia tried to peacefully reverse the incursion. But the STC was determined to expand its control, then announcing a transitional period for South Yemen’s independence.
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani tried at the weekend to mediate between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi by calling Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.
It seems that this soothed the situation, as all the other Gulf states along with Egypt called on the “two brothers” to keep working for the sake of the Yemeni people.
When the Iran-backed Houthi militia swept the country in 2014, Saudi Arabia formed an alliance to push the Houthis back and install a legitimate government comprising remaining factions in Yemen including the STC and other southern groups.
The UAE was the main partner with Saudi Arabia in the war that started in 2015. But later the Emiratis withdrew the bulk of their forces from Yemen in 2019 after they suffered huge causalities in a Houthi attack in Shabwa.
Differences among the alliance were also clear, as the UAE did not support a united Yemen, whereas Saudi Arabia was strongly in favour of it.
One of the thorny issues was the Yemeni Island of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden that the UAE nearly controlled. With the UAE’s withdrawal from the coalition, this passed into the hands of the STC.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is reaching catastrophic proportions, with the country’s population of roughly 40 million enduring what aid agencies say is “the world’s third worst hunger crisis” almost threatening to reach famine levels.
In 2021, the UN estimated that 377,000 people had died as a result of the conflict and its impact on hunger and healthcare, of which 259,000 were said to be children under the age of five. More than 250,000 people have died since that date.
Differences between the former partners also appeared last week, when Saudi fighters bombed a military consignment of two Emirati ships in the Mukalla port in Hadramout.
Riyadh gave Abu Dhabi a 24-hour ultimatum to withdraw its remaining forces from Yemen. It complied and said it was withdrawing completely.
The UAE insists that its efforts in Yemen have been mainly targeting the forces of terrorist groups and offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood (the Yemeni Islah Party).
The UAE had reservations about including Islah in the internationally recognised legitimate government of the country, but the Saudis wanted a comprehensive settlement in Yemen that comprised all the factions, even the Houthis if they agreed to stop their rebellious attitude and become part of a unified Yemen.
Since the formation of the PLC, the Emirati leadership has turned its focus to southern Yemen, helping the STC and other factions there to stand up against any revival of Al-Qaeda or Islah militias.
As one Gulf pundit put it, “that strengthened the southern factions’ quest for secession rather than being part of a united Yemen with the north as the Saudis wish.”
He told Al-Ahram Weekly that this “hasn’t been a serious threat to the political process sponsored by Saudi Arabia for the last few years, but the latest venture by the STC threatened the political path to a peaceful solution in Yemen.”
The southern factions might also have been encouraged by the Israeli recognition of the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland in recent weeks. But commentary in the Israeli media has questioned any benefit Israel might gain from recognising those entities.
Most Yemenis in the south of the country may be in favour of secession from the north, but not all of them support the STC. Many ordinary Yemenis doubt that going back to two states in Yemen as existed before unification in 1990 will make their lives better.
Many Yemenis both inside and outside Yemen told the Weekly that developments since the start of December are “not good for the country, especially for ordinary people”.
As the STC relinquishes control of the areas it seized last month and the UAE withdraws all its remaining forces from Yemen, the path might be clear for the political process the Saudis advocate. This might also spare the population, which has suffered heavily over the last decade.
According to a Yemeni journalist, who asked for anonymity, people are “apprehensive,” especially in Hadramout, which is supposed to be quiet. The rest of the country is already impoverished, he said.
“Salaries range between 80,000 and 150,000 Yemeni riyals [roughly equivalent to 200 to 300 Saudi riyals]. The prices of basic family needs are five kg of rice at 11,000 riyals, a bottle of cooking oil at 16,000 riyals, one kg of flour at 1,600 riyals, five kg of sugar at 8,600 riyals, and a gas cylinder at approximately 10,000 riyals, rising to 15,000 during periods of shortage,” the journalist told the Weekly.
Some Yemenis complain that workers have not received their salaries for months, with the problem of displacement from areas under Houthi rule adding to their plight. People on the ground speak of the assistance the PLC receives from Saudi Arabia and the STC receives from the UAE, with none of this actually reaching them.
Though many Yemenis feel relieved as the latest crisis cools down, they are still wary of prospects for the future.
The STC might keep pushing for a separate South Yemen, and the Houthis are not yet ready to go into a collective government of a united Yemen, even as Saudi Arabia is determined to keep supporting a political process that it believes will lead to a peaceful solution in its southern neighbour.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: