Yemen presidential body sacks last UAE-backed member

Yemen's eight-seat presidential body on Thursday dismissed its last UAE-backed member, a southern separatist, consolidating Saudi Arabia's full control over the country's decision-making body.

In December, forces from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council briefly captured two key provinces, infuriating Saudi Arabia, which rolled back their land grab with air strikes and allies on the ground.

"It was decided to terminate the membership of Faraj Salmeen Al-Bahsani in the Presidential Leadership Council," the Saudi-backed body said in an official resolution.

Bahsani is a vice president of the STC who has been getting treatment in the United Arab Emirates and was governor of oil-rich Hadramawt province, Yemen's largest and one of the two provinces the separatists had seized.

Earlier this month, STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who was also a PLC member, was sacked after he was accused of "high treason".

The resolution dismissing Bahsani cited a series of reasons including his support for Zubaidi and the STC's takeover, as well as statements that he gave.

On Sunday, Bahsani gave an interview to AFP news agency during which he said southern forces, including Emirati-backed separatists, would not agree to unite under the command of a Saudi-led coalition as announced the day before by the PLC chairman.

He also urged Saudi Arabia, which is hosting talks for Yemen's southern factions, to allow participants to hold the meeting outside the kingdom.

"I call on Saudi Arabia to give southerners an opportunity to meet outside Saudi Arabia, away from the pressures that will be exerted on the participants if it is held in Riyadh," he told AFP.

Yemen separatist chief calls for protests in first message since disappearance

Aidarous Al-Zubaidi called for protests in Aden in a message to a TV channel, his first public statement since his disappearance over a week ago.

Al-Zubaidi called for "the people of South Arabia to rally in the capital Aden on Friday", pro-separatist Aden Independent Channel posted on X.

The leader of the Emirati-backed STC has been accused in Yemen of high treason and was removed from the country's Presidential Leadership Council, which helms the country's internationally recognised government.

He fled ahead of talks in Riyadh following a swift defeat of his group by pro-Saudi forces earlier in January, and his whereabouts remain contested.

The STC leader also called for demonstrators to support a declaration for an independent state made by the separatists in January and demand the release of the movement's members in Saudi Arabia, the channel reported.

The STC has sought to recreate the state of South Yemen, which existed from 1967 to 1990.

Saudi officials say Zubaidi fled to the United Arab Emirates after his forces were driven from territories seized last month in Yemen's south.

STC officials insist he is still in Yemen.

Last week, a high-level separatist delegation dissolved the group from Riyadh, where they went for talks, a decision the STC says was made under duress, with the group accusing Saudi Arabia of detaining the team.

Yemen's internationally recognised government is a patchwork of groups held together by their opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis, who ousted them from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now rule much of the country's north.

It used to be split between UAE and Saudi-backed figures, but after Saudi Arabia and its allies reversed the STC's takeover and pushed the UAE out of the country, the government has been purged of most Emirati-backed members.