President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Saturday the failure of the November Riyadh Agreement with the Southern Transitional Council is due to "escalatory acts" the separatist body exercised, "including a declared self-administration" of the south.
Addressing his advisors, MPs and senior members of his government in a meeting in Riyadh, Hadi referred to the militia's recent capture of Socotra archipelago.
"And the last of those [escalatory acts] was the rebellion against the state and the attack on the peaceful inhabitants in Socotra. The amicable and secure island that had not known the shooting of one bullet," said Hadi.
"What is disappointing and upsetting is to see those armored vehicles, and other fanciful military equipment overrun the government offices and intimidate the unsuspecting civilians in Socotra," Hadi continued, "whilst they should have been in Aqabat Tahra, Alhosha, Serwah, Nehm, Beidha dn Hawban frontlines [with Houthis] where our real battle is."
Hadi said, "Resort to weapons and power to achieve personal" or other narrow gains won't be acceptable. "our people will always be ready to defend the republic … and no power can overcome the people."
Hadi renewed his call to the STC to exploit the sincere efforts of Saudi Arabia to ensure the return to the track of the Riyadh Agreement. He called on the separatists to cease bloodshed saying that, on his part, he had ordered the government forces to cease fire in Abyan frontline.
Hadi said the original Houthi rebels who dishonored all past peace deals are now escalating military attacks in north Yemen's fronts against the government forces and Yemen's neighbors despite international calls to cease fire and focus efforts with the government on counteracting the plague of covid-19.
