Yemen Monitor / Al-Mahra / Exclusive:
Al-Mahra Governorate (eastern Yemen) is witnessing escalating tensions between the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on one side, and local tribes alongside the “Shield of the Nation” forces on the other. This comes amid community movements playing a supportive role for the local authority in maintaining the truce and preventing any repercussions that could destabilize the governorate.
The Al-Mahra Media Center reported that the Truce and Reconciliation Committee, supporting the local authority in the governorate, held its first meeting today. Chaired by Sheikh Saeed Ali bin Ghafilah and attended by a number of committee members including tribal sheikhs, social figures, and youth cadres, the meeting discussed mechanisms for work in the upcoming phase and ways to enhance stability in the governorate.
The committee affirmed that its primary goal is to find effective solutions and remedies for existing problems, ensuring the maintenance of public tranquility and supporting the local authority’s efforts to solidify security and stability.
The meeting concluded with several decisions, most notably approving a field visit program involving sheikhs, social figures, and influential military and security leaders. This aims to unify visions and mobilize efforts to protect the governorate from any repercussions affecting its security and stability, alongside moving to expand the committee’s membership to strengthen its community presence.
On the ground, Al-Ghaydah Airport witnessed the withdrawal of the “Shield of the Nation” forces from the last positions they were still stationed in within the airport, including one of the main gates and the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters. These positions were taken over by forces of the “Sixth Support and Reinforcement Brigade” affiliated with the STC.
In response, the tribes of Al-Mahra announced their rejection of the expulsion of the “Shield of the Nation” forces, whose personnel are from the governorate, and their replacement with forces from outside it. They held the local authority leadership and its partners fully responsible for any consequences resulting from these decisions, calling on all tribes of Al-Mahra to unite, reject these practices, and defend legitimate rights by all legal means to preserve Al-Mahra’s security, stability, and independent decision.
In the same context, media outlets affiliated with the STC reported that the commander of the Al-Ghaydah Axis, Major General Muhsin Mar’sa’, and the commander of the Sixth Support and Reinforcement Brigade, Brigadier General Sayyaf Al-Ma’kar, met today with the director of Al-Ghaydah International Airport, Mr. Musa’b Saleh Haymid. They discussed a mechanism to enhance the protection and security of the airport with southern military units to ensure the highest levels of readiness and security discipline.
The STC had appointed a director for Al-Ghaydah Airport one day after its forces entered the governorate’s capital, in addition to appointing a director for the Shahn border crossing—a move seen as an attempt to control the governorate’s most vital centers.
The governorate has recently witnessed a number of armed protest sit-ins by Al-Mahra tribes in several districts, rejecting the deployment of military forces from outside the governorate and raising national Yemeni flags in a clear message of rejection of the STC’s project.
The Executive Body of the STC in Al-Mahra announced organizing a massive public event in Al-Ghaydah city next Tuesday, which appears to be a response to the tribal movements rejecting the Transitional Council.
