UAE welcomes Saudi efforts to support security in Yemen, foreign ministry says

DUBAI, Dec 26 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates welcomes Saudi Arabian efforts to support security and stability in Yemen and remains committed to backing stability in the country, the UAE’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

Yemen’s main southern separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is supported by Abu Dhabi, has pushed the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government from its headquarters in Aden while claiming broad control across the south earlier this month.

“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavours aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it remains hopeful that STC will end an escalation and withdraw its forces from the eastern provinces of Hadramout and Mahra.

A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation arrived in Aden on December 12 to discuss measures aimed at defusing tensions.

Saudi Arabia said the teams were sent to make “the necessary arrangements” to ensure the return of STC forces to their previous positions outside the two provinces, adding that the efforts were still in progress.

The STC was initially part of the Sunni Muslim Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthis. But the group has turned on the government and sought self-rule in the south.

Yemen has already been marred by a civil war since 2014, with the Houthis controlling the northern part of the country, including the capital Sanaa, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.

Situated between Saudi Arabia and an important shipping route on the Red Sea, Yemen was split into northern and southern states until 1990.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)