30 Dec 2020; MEMO: Yemen tribal leaders in the southern Abyan province yesterday called on the Saudi-led Arab coalition to put pressure on the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) to force it to hand over the province's capital of Zinjibar to government security forces in accordance with the Riyadh Agreement.
"The Riyadh Agreement represented a glimmer of hope to bring peace and break the August 2019 coup," the tribes said in a statement, referring to the STC's control of the interim capital of Aden and expulsion of the internationally recognised government.
The statement called on the Arab Coalition Committee supervising the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement to expedite the removal of the STC's armed militias from Zinjibar and to allow public security forces to return to the city.
The tribes affirmed their "absolute support" for Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
On 11 December, the internationally recognized government of Yemen and the STC militants began withdrawing their forces from the southern province of Abyan as part of the power-sharing Riyadh Agreement, which was designed to end hostilities between the two sides.
However, the withdrawal did not comply with the terms of the pact, with STC forces remaining in a number of areas and ministers from the new government unable to take the oath in Aden as a result.
