Yemen separatist official hails 'productive' talks with Saudi Arabia

DUBAI - A senior official in Yemen's main separatist group who is part of a delegation in Riyadh, Mohammad al Ghaithi, on Thursday said talks with Saudi Arabia were productive as tension rises between the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates with regards to Yemen. 

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the Southern Transitional Council backed by the United Arab Emirates, fled Yemen by boat before boarding an aircraft to Mogadishu that landed at a military airport in Abu Dhabi.

The drama escalates a row between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the most powerful countries in the oil-rich Gulf. Zubaidi had failed to show up in Riyadh for crisis talks over turmoil in southern Yemen on Wednesday.

The close US allies have sharp differences over a wide range of volatile issues across the Middle East - from geopolitics to oil output - which burst out into the open with the crisis in Yemen.

The separatists said Zubaidi had been asked to go to Saudi Arabia under threat.