A deal ending the standoff between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and UAE-backed separatist Southern Transition Council (STC), is expected to be announced on October 16, 2019. The two groups have typically been allied, but conflict broke out in August 2019 as the STC seized control of Aden. Saudi Arabia has helped restore talks between the two, encouraging cooperation to continue the coalition fighting against the Houthis. The deal entails for the government to be reshuffled to include the STC, and for the armed forces to be restructured under Saudi supervision.
Houthi-Saudi tensions remain high, especially as the Houthis recently claimed responsibility for the attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14, 2019. Nonetheless, resolving the power struggle between the STC and Yemen’s internationally recognized government would ease conflict on one front of the war, and could be a step towards paving the way for peace talks to resolve a multi-faceted war that has caused one the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
