Aden (South24 Center)

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) has called on Northern Yemeni parties to accept a two-state solution to the unity crisis between the South and the North, expressing its rejection of a return to “dependency” projects.

Describing the 31st anniversary of the invasion of South Yemen in the summer of 1994 as a “black day”, Nasser al-Khobaji, head of STC's political body and also its negotiation delegation, said that Southerners are committed to their right to restore their state and build a political solution based on two states, as it existed before the 1990 unity.

“On this black day in the summer of 1994, the forces of the Sanaa regime invaded the Southern land in a blatant aggression, based on a military-religious-tribal alliance that overthrew all the political and moral foundations on which unity was based,” Al-Khobaji said in a post on his account on X (formerly Twitter). He added: “This was a full-fledged occupation, accompanied by the usurpation of sovereignty and wealth as well as a flagrant violation of rights under the cover of takfir fatwas and the weapons of treachery”. 

According to him, “July 7 was not a day of victory as they claim but rather a black milestone that launched the project of domination and exclusion. It opened the doors to looting, killing, and marginalization against the people of South Yemen.” 

Al-Khobaji continued: "Today, we affirm it clearly and unequivocally: The South has changed and it will not be defeated twice. It will not return to the square of subordination, nor will unity be imposed upon it by force, fatwa, or guardianship." 

He reiterated his call on the Northern parties “for an honest review of the failed unity experience, and to open up to a just solution based on two equal states, through a genuine negotiation process, under regional and international auspices that guarantees peace, stability, and mutual respect.”

July 7 marks the anniversary of the entry of Northern forces into the city of Aden in 1994 after weeks of war sparked by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's declaration of war from Sanaa's Sabeen Square in April of the same year.

On May 21, 1994, South Yemeni President Ali Salem Al-Beidh announced his country's disengagement from the North, in protest against what he described as a coup against the unity agreement and the exclusionary approach practiced by Sanaa against the Southern partner.

Despite several UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire and political dialogue, the war ended with Sanaa's forces taking control of the South and establishing unity by force. This opened the door to a long series of tensions and protests.

In 2007, popular protests known as the “Southern Movement (Hirak)” began, demanding an end to what was considered an occupation and the restoration of an independent Southern state, before later developing into an armed resistance that confronted the Houthis and Saleh's forces in 2015 and contributed to the liberation of Aden and other Southern cities.

In May 2017, the formation of the Southern Transitional Council, led by Aidrous Al-Zubaidi, was announced as a political framework aimed at representing the Southern cause, based on the accumulation of Southern political and military work for more than two decades.