UAE backs Saudi bid for Yemen unity
Gargash urges Yemeni government, STC to show flexibility to resolve row
Cairo: The UAE Sunday voiced backing for Saudi efforts to defuse a row between the Yemeni government and Southern Transitional Council forces in the war-racked country.
In August, clashes erupted between Yemeni forces and STC supporters, triggering a rift in an Arab alliance fighting Yemen’s Iran-allied Al Houthi militants.
Riyadh has invited both sides for talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah to resolve the dispute so as to refocus efforts on fighting Al Houthis.
“The big efforts made by sisterly Saudi Arabia through Jeddah negotiations, to unify ranks and confront the Al Houthi coup, are appreciated. We fully back them,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said Sunday.
“It is necessary for both sides to show flexibility and wisdom. More importantly, matters should not return to the previous situation, but there should be a stronger and more solid front,” he added in a tweet. In August, the STC loyalists overran some government-controlled southern territory in Yemen including the cities of Aden and Abyan
Aden became the temporary seat of the Yemeni government after Al Houthi extremists seized the capital Sana’a in late 2014, plunging the impoverished country into a ruinous war.