Saudi Arabia, UAE escalate tensions in Yemen’s oil-rich Hadramout province

SANAA, June 01 (YPA) – The Yemeni oil-rich Hadramout province is experiencing a new phase of tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which is evident in the current movements of the two countries.

Each of the two countries seeks to exclude the other from the province and implement its own project in accordance with its interests and agenda that it wants to achieve in this province, eastern Yemen.

Despite the agreement of the two countries on the project of separating the province from its homeland, the Republic of Yemen, the conflict of interests sparked a sharp dispute between the two countries participating in the war on Yemen.

The dispute between the two countries has escalated due to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s recent attempts to include the province in its separatist project, which Saudi Arabia sees as a threat to its existence in this province, which it seeks to make part of or at least transform into an independent entity affiliated with Riyadh.

This was evident through the Saudi counter-movements and efforts to thwart the meetings of the National Assembly affiliated with the STC by summoning the STC’s president, Aidaroos Al-Zubaidi, to Riyadh, in conjunction with summoning a Hadrami delegation headed by Hadramout governor, Mabkhout bin Madhi, to hold negotiations in Riyadh to adopt the draft declaration of the province as an independent entity in accordance with the agenda desired by Saudi Arabia.

According to observers, Saudi Arabia has arranged meetings with ambassadors from a number of countries and summoned 22 Western delegations to visit Riyadh and meet with the Hadramout delegation. These meetings are part of a larger effort to mobilize international support for Saudi Arabia’s vision of declaring Hadramout an independent entity.

The observers see that the Saudi-led coalition is heading towards separating Hadramout from Yemen, and the disagreement between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is due to the method of dividing.

YPA