Divisions restrict Southern Transitional Council, UAE ambitions in Yemen
Although the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council is fighting for the independence of southern Yemen, their ambitions as well as the UAE’s risk deepening divisions in the area.
Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council emerging as a dominant force in the south has shifted the country’s political dynamics. The faction faces opposition not just from President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government but within the southern movement itself.
The STC emerged in May 2017 and declared independence later that year, operating with its military wing the Security Belt and UAE-backed elite forces in southern governorates like Hadramawt and Shabwa. It has formed a parliament and cabinet with formal government positions and presented itself as a legitimate state actor.
