...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
's prime minister on Monday flew back to the southern city of Aden under the terms of a peace deal with southern separatists who expelled the government from its provisional capital in August.
The return from Riyadh of Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and four other ministers, initially planned for last week but delayed for logistical reasons, follows the November deal with separatists who had chased the government out of the port city.
Fighters of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) last August seized control of Aden, which had become the seat of government after it was driven out of Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014 by Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
sThe STC and the government, which are technically allies in the fight against the Huthis, inked a power-sharing deal in Riyadh on November 5 under Saudi mediation.
As well as heralding the government's return to Aden, it laid the foundation for forming a new 24-member cabinet with equal representation for southerners, including the STC.
Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has lived in Riyadh since Sanaa fell to the Huthis.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 as the Houthis closed in on Aden, prompting Hadi to flee into Saudi exile.
Infighting in Yemen's south had posed a headache for regional powerhouse Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, which remains focused on confronting the Iran-aligned Huthis.
The war within a war also raised fears that Yemen could disintegrate, threatening to sharpen a humanitarian crisis in the country that the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
has termed as the world's worst.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as of 2016....has said the deal would "open a new period of stability in Yemen".
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said it was "important to the political efforts to achieve peace in the country".
Yemen's conflict has since 2015 killed tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, and driven millions more to the brink of famine.
Related:
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-11-06 Yemen govt, southern separatists sign power-sharing deal
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-10-28 Draft Saudi-brokered deal aims to end south Yemen power struggle
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-10-19 Bahrain FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: Qatar Plays Negative Role to Obstruct Solution In Yemen
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-11-06 Yemen govt, southern separatists sign power-sharing deal
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-10-28 Draft Saudi-brokered deal aims to end south Yemen power struggle
Southern Transitional Council (STC): 2019-10-19 Bahrain FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: Qatar Plays Negative Role to Obstruct Solution In Yemen