Al-Zubaidi: My Decisions Are Constitutional, a Right for the STC, and Yemeni Parties Are Finished

Yemen Monitor/ New York/ Exclusive:

Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), fiercely defended his authority to issue presidential decrees, which had been widely seen as a significant overreach of power and a breach of consensus.

Speaking to Sky News from New York, Al-Zubaidi asserted that the decisions he issued earlier this month were “a right for the STC and the people of the South,” classifying them as part of his legal and constitutional prerogative under the PLC’s agreements. He maintained that these decisions had “no problem.”

Al-Zubaidi claimed that other decisions, which have not been publicly announced, have already been implemented on the ground, with “legal handover and receipt in state institutions.” He called for his decrees to gain “internal momentum,” and accused opponents of his decisions of supporting “corruption and terrorism,” stating that “there are political forces that do not want the government to rise.”

The STC President argued that his actions were necessary because state institutions and the government had reached a state of “flabbiness and ineffectiveness,” amid the PLC’s failure to forge consensus and the absence of a participatory decision-making mechanism.

Regarding his controversial order to review all PLC decisions made since 2022, Al-Zubaidi confirmed that every decision made unilaterally would be reviewed and agreed upon, with the aim of establishing a “participatory mechanism for decision-making” within the PLC.

The decrees were initially described as exceeding Al-Zubaidi’s authority, as they are typically the prerogative of PLC Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi. Following days of tension and mediation, the PLC held a meeting in Riyadh where it agreed to refer both Al-Zubaidi’s and Al-Alimi’s decisions to the legal committee for review, without suspending the STC President’s orders. Al-Zubaidi noted that the PLC has been “absent over the past three years.”

Al-Zubaidi acknowledged that “the government is indeed not all present on the ground,” noting that some ministries lack headquarters in Aden. He attributed this failure to the political parties that form the internationally recognized government.

He launched a sharp critique of these parties, stating that their “effectiveness has ended, and even their mandated timeframe for internal elections has ended,” resulting in unelected leadership within the government and leading to its overall failure.

The STC leader threatened to resort to elections in the liberated governorates (from the Houthis) if the current situation persists. He said this would be to “produce a cohesive government from the field” with regional and international backing. He warned that if a participatory mechanism is not established, “we will go down to the people and express their will in the fully liberated governorates.”

Al-Zubaidi reiterated that the separation of South Yemen and the “restoration of all its state institutions and its membership in the United Nations is a constant strategic goal that will not change or be shaken.”

Despite this goal, he stressed that this does not exempt the STC from playing its role alongside other political forces in fighting the Houthis and liberating all of Yemen’s territories from this “terrorist organization” and other such groups.