Saudi-led coalition says UAE helped smuggle separatist leader out of Yemen

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has accused the United Arab Emirates of helping smuggle a separatist leader out of the country after he was ousted from Yemen’s presidential council and accused of treason.

A coalition spokesman said Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), fled Aden on Tuesday night in a boat bound for Somaliland. He was then flown on a cargo aircraft to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu under the supervision of UAE officials, he added.

There was no immediate comment from the UAE or STC.

STC insisted Zubaidi was still working from Aden on Wednesday, after the coalition said he failed to fly to Riyadh for talks and fled to an unknown location.

The coalition also accused Zubaidi of moving STC forces from bases in Aden to his home province of al-Dahle and said it conducted air strikes against them in response.

The STC said the strikes, which reportedly killed four people, were “unjustified” and “inconsistent” with calls for dialogue with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is led by the president’s council and supported by Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday, coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki al-Malki said it had “reliable intelligence” indicating that Zubaidi and his companions fled the port of Aden in the early hours of Wednesday on a St Kitts and Nevis-flagged passenger ship.

The ship sailed across the Gulf of Aden to Berbera in the breakaway region of Somaliland, where an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft was waiting, he added.

Malki said Zubaidi and his companions “boarded the plane under the supervision of UAE officials” and flew first to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, before heading to the Arabian Sea “with no declared destination”.

“The plane disabled its detection systems in the Gulf of Oman, reactivating them 10 minutes before landing at the Al-Reef Military Air Base in Abu Dhabi,” he added, without directly saying whether Zubaidi was still on board.

The past few weeks have seen southern Yemen move to the brink of a new conflict, pitting factions fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement in the country’s decade-long civil war against each other and deepening rifts between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Forces aligned with the STC have in recent years taken control of much of the south, which they want to turn into an independent state, by pushing out forces loyal to the government.

However, Saudi Arabia warned last week that developments near the kingdom’s borders pose threats to national security as well as Yemen’s security and stability.

It also accused the UAE of “pressing” separatist allies to push into eastern Yemen and expressed support for a request from the presidential council for all Emirati forces to leave.

At the same time, the Saudi-led coalition – which was formed in 2015 by Arab states, including the UAE, after the Houthi rebels seized control of northwestern Yemen – struck what it said was a shipment of weapons and military vehicles for the STC that arrived from the UAE.

The UAE expressed “deep regret” over the Saudi accusations and denied having any weapons, but agreed to withdraw its remaining forces from the country.

Since then, forces loyal to the government have taken back control of Hadramawt and al-Mahra with the help of coalition air strikes.

Witnesses and government officials told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that Aden is also now under the control of Saudi-backed forces.