ReutersYemen’s Saudi-led coalition has accused the United Arab Emirates of helping smuggle a separatist leader expelled from Yemen’s presidential council and accused of treason out of the country.
A coalition spokesman said Aidarus al-Zubaidi, head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), escaped from Aden to Somaliland by boat on Tuesday night. He then traveled to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu by cargo plane under the supervision of UAE officers, he added.
There was no immediate comment from the UAE or STC.
The STC claimed on Wednesday that Zubaidi was still working in Aden after the coalition said he had fled to an undisclosed location rather than being able to fly to Riyadh for talks.
The coalition also accused Zubaidi of moving STC troops from his Aden base to his home province of Al-Dale and said it carried out airstrikes against them in response.
The STC said the airstrikes, which reportedly killed four people, were “unjustified” and “inconsistent” with calls for dialogue with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is overseen by a presidential council and backed by Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said they had “credible information” that Zubaidi and his colleagues escaped from the port of Aden aboard a St. Kitts and Nevis-flagged passenger ship in the early hours of Wednesday.
The vessel sailed across the Gulf of Aden to Berbera in the Somaliland breakaway region where an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane was waiting, he added.
Malki said Zubaidi and his colleagues “boarded the aircraft under the supervision of UAE officers” and flew first to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu before heading to the Arabian Sea “with no declared destination”.
“The aircraft deactivated its identification system over the Gulf of Oman and reactivated it just 10 minutes before landing at Al Rif Air Base in Abu Dhabi,” he added, without directly specifying whether Zubaidi was still on board.
ReutersOver the past few weeks, southern Yemen has been on the brink of a new conflict, with multiple factions clashing, including Iran-backed Houthi rebels waging a decade-long civil war against each other and a deepening rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Forces aligned with the STC have in recent years taken control of much of the south, where they hope to become an independent nation once again by driving out forces loyal to the government.
But Saudi Arabia warned last week that advances near the Saudi border pose a threat to national security as well as the security and stability of Yemen.
It also accused the UAE of putting “pressure” on its separatist allies to advance into eastern Yemen and expressed support for a presidential council’s call for all UAE troops to withdraw.
At the same time, the Saudi-led coalition formed in 2015 by Arab countries, including the UAE, after Houthi rebels took control of northwestern Yemen, attacked a shipment of weapons and military vehicles for the STC that arrived from the UAE.
The UAE expressed “deep regret” over the Saudi accusations and denied there were any weapons, but agreed to withdraw its remaining troops from the country.
Since then, forces loyal to the government have regained control of Hadhrama’ut and al-Mahra through coalition airstrikes.
Witnesses and government officials told Reuters on Thursday that Aden was also now under the control of Saudi-backed forces.
