After the STC’s Rejection, the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance Announces Failure of Understandings with Local Authority Leadership

Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:

Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance announced that communication with the leadership of the local authority in the governorate has reached a dead end, just one day after the Southern Transitional Council (STC) rejected those understandings.

In a statement, a copy of which was received by “Yemen Monitor,” the Alliance explained that during the past days, some understandings were reached with the governorate’s local authority leadership, and the Alliance engaged with them positively out of concern for Hadhramaut. However, the statement asserted that “all of that has reached a dead end, and there are no sincere intentions toward implementing the steps.”

The Alliance affirmed that it is “steadfast in its positions and principles until the realization of all its goals,” and that it is “always keen on the rights of Hadhramaut.”

Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance’s statement came one day after a statement from the Hadhramaut STC branch, which declared its “absolute rejection” of any agreement between the local authority and the Alliance, considering it an act of “legitimizing corruption and dividing interests at the expense of the rights of the governorate’s people.”

The local authority in Hadhramaut had reached understandings with the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance under Saudi sponsorship. These understandings included a number of vital service and economic files, including lifting the school strike, finding solutions to the electricity crisis, and providing petroleum products to improve essential services and the lives of citizens in Hadhramaut. This outcome reportedly disturbed the STC, which then came out to declare its rejection of the understandings.

Hadhramaut governorate is witnessing significant tension and escalating polarization, especially after the Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance’s involvement and its establishment of military formations under the name of the Hadhramaut Protection Forces. The Alliance also demands self-rule for the governorate, which the STC considers to be an effort to “thwart its separatist project” for the southern governorates of Yemen.