Aden (South24 Center)

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On Monday (December 22), a number of ministries and government institutions in the capital Aden issued new official statements, declaring their support for the moves of the Southern Armed Forces and the Transitional Council, as well as the demands to declare an independent South Arabia state.

According to statements monitored by South24, statements were issued by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Local Administration, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Guidance, as well as the Land Affairs Authority.

While some of these statements were issued by ministers affiliated with the Transitional Council, others were signed by deputy ministers and undersecretaries belonging to the Council within ministries that had previously been allocated to other Yemeni parties and factions.

The local authority of the capital Aden also issued a similar statement of support for the Transitional Council, warning against involving service-related files and citizens’ interests in political disputes.

These statements come in the wake of similar positions announced on Sunday by other ministries and institutions in Aden, including the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Civil Service and Insurance, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Those positions coincided with a meeting in Aden of the Supreme Executive Leadership affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council, a framework that includes a number of ministers and officials in the Yemeni government within the Council’s share, in addition to governors and local officials.

In contrast, Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani, residing in Riyadh, announced his rejection of the statements issued from Aden in the name of the Ministry of Information, describing them as unrepresentative of the ministry.

On Sunday, the Yemeni state-run Saba News Agency also published a statement attributed to an official source in the office of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi, who considered the statements issued from Aden an overstepping of functional duties.

The statement said that Al-Alimi, who recently left Aden for Riyadh, directed that legal and administrative penalties be taken against the ministers and officials responsible for the statements in Aden.

These developments coincide with ongoing open popular activities in Aden and a number of southern cities, as well as foreign capitals, demanding the declaration of the State of South Arabia within the borders prior to 1990.

These rapid developments come amid ongoing security operations to combat Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in Hadramout Governorate, including Wadi and Desert Hadramout.