STC chief in Jeddah for talks on Aden standoff

RIYADH - The leader of Yemen's Southern Transitional Council (STC) has arrived in the Saudi city of Jeddah for talks aimed at ending a standoff in Aden port between UAE-backed southern forces and Yemen's Saudi-backed government, who had been nominal allies under a Saudi-led military coalition.

Saudi Arabia called for a summit after the STC on Aug. 10 took over Aden, interim seat of the government, in a move that fractured the alliance. The ousted Yemeni government and coalition partner the United Arab Emirates traded blame over the crisis late on Tuesday.

It was not clear if a delayed meeting involving both Yemeni sides would go ahead after the STC extended their grip on the south on Tuesday by seizing government military camps in nearby Abyan.

But Yemen's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Hadhrami said on Twitter Wednesday that the government "will not take part in discussions with the (STC)... unless it withdraws from positions it has seized" and hands over all the weapons it captured from government troops.

The southern fighters are part of the Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Huthis, who ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. His government rebased to Aden.

However, the UAE-backed STC has a rival agenda to Hadi's government, which has refused to participate in any talks unless the southern forces reverse what it calls a separatist coup.

Yemen's UN permanent representative, Abdullah al-Saadi, said "the armed rebellion (in Aden)... is supported financially, logistically and with the knowledge of the UAE", according to Yemeni state media.

"If it were not for the full support of the UAE, this rebellion would not have taken place," he told the UN Security Council.

Hadi's government has asked Abu Dhabi, which has called for dialogue, to stop funding and arming southern forces.

"This scheme of fragmentation continues and is escalating despite calls for de-escalation led by Saudi Arabia," said the government letter to the Security Council on Tuesday.

The war has revived old strains between north and south Yemen - formerly separate countries that united into a single state in 1990 under then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Four years later, an armed secession bid ended in occupation by northern forces, giving rise to resentments which persist to this day.

UAE says Hadi government is weak

The standoff has complicated efforts to end the ruinous war and has exposed differences between regional allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which in June scaled down its presence in Yemen while still backing thousands of southern fighters.

The UAE responded to the criticism of its backing of the STC by reaffirming its commitment to the Saudi-led coalition and criticising the "weak performance" and "ineffectiveness" of Hadi's government, saying it was unable to engage in constructive dialogue with other Yemeni parties.

"It is not appropriate for the Yemeni government to hang its political and administrative failure on the UAE," Abu Dhabi's deputy permanent UN representative, Saud Al-Shamsi, said in New York. His remarks were carried on state news agency WAM on Wednesday.

Shamsi also rejected accusations that the UAE supported the STC in their seizure of Aden.

"We regret hearing today allegations directed against the UAE regarding developments in Aden, which we categorically reject," he wrote on Twitter.

As a key partner in the Saudi-led military coalition backing the government against northern-based Huthi rebels, "the UAE is exerting all efforts to de-escalate the situation in Yemen", he added.

The STC said it would hold Aden until elements of the Islamist Islah - a key Hadi ally which the UAE regards as an offshoot of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - and northerners are removed from power positions in the south. It also wants a say in Yemen's future.

Yemeni sources have said the delayed summit could discuss reshuffling Hadi's government to include the STC, which seeks self-rule in the south and blames Islah, a key Hadi ally, of being complicit in a Huthi assault on southern forces earlier this month. The Islah party denies the charge.

The Iran-backed Huthi rebels meanwhile are pointing to Aden as proof that Hadi is unfit to rule. The group, which holds most big urban centres in the country as well as the capital Sanaa, has recently stepped up drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities.

The conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.