From Turkey ... Al-Yadoumi's messages to Saudi Arabia paint the features of a more dangerous escalation
English - Sunday 29 November 2020 الساعة 01:57 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, Editorial Team:
The talks to implement the Riyadh Agreement have fluctuated in a vicious circle, a year after the signing of the agreement, under Saudi sponsorship, in parallel with the worrying escalation of armed attacks in Abyan Governorate, in southern Yemen.
While the Yemenis were awaiting the birth of the new government, a member of the Supreme Committee for the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council, Salem Al-Awlaqi, announced the suspension of the talks and confirmed the existence of a "political blockage" there.
Al-Awlaqi accused, in press statements, the Islah Party, the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, of being behind obstructing all efforts to advance the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, calling on the leadership of the Arab Coalition to announce the party that obstructed the agreement.
The Brotherhood is desperate to control the sovereign portfolios in the expected government, an attempt that is part of the hijacking of the "legitimacy" decision, and to provide the political cover for the Turkish intervention, which Yemeni Brotherhood leaders openly talk about.
The Riyadh agreement was concluded on November 5, 2019, under great pressure from Saudi Arabia, and promised as a cesarean operation necessary to strengthen the dilapidated "legitimacy" front, and to redirect the compass of the confrontation toward the Houthi militia, which still controls northern Yemen.
From an early age, the Brotherhood’s organization set up ambushes in the way of implementing the agreement, and that revealed the contradictory agendas and the influence of the Qatari player on the decision of a large wing in the hierarchy of Yemeni legitimacy.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood’s stance, rejecting the Riyadh Agreement, appeared more daring, as the organization’s big heads left Saudi Arabia and arrived in Turkey, most notably Muhammad al-Yadoumi, head of the High Commission for the Yemeni Rally for Islah, and hardline cleric Abdulmajid al-Zindani.
In an indication of this shift in the position of the Yemeni Brotherhood with all its wings, which used to exchange roles during the past years, Al-Yadoumi announced in a tweet from Turkey that his party refused to form the new government, before the implementation of the military and security part of the Riyadh Agreement, which brings down the curtain, about an upcoming escalation.
Al-Yadoumi said, "Failure to implement what has been agreed upon regarding the implementation of the military and security aspect will make the birth of the government difficult and incapable of excuses that are meaningless and in no one's interest."
Concurrently, the military activity supported by Qatar and Turkey increased in the governorates of Shabwa, Abyan (southern Yemen) and Taiz (central), with indications of the desire of Yemeni and regional parties to explode the Riyadh Agreement and create a new reality in the liberated areas.
The movements of the Muslim Brotherhood militia in the governorates of Taiz, Shabwa, Abyan and Al-Mahrah are covered by political cover from some influential leaders in the legitimacy of the Brotherhood, which claim support for the Arab coalition, and at the same time seek to empower the Turkish Qatari agenda from the joints of the state, local authority institutions, the army and security.
The Yemeni brothers believe that the failure of the Riyadh agreement is a success, given the contradiction between the goals for which it was found, and the organization’s agenda, open to the dictates of the group’s regional sponsors, including the failure of Saudi Arabia.
Hadi and Al-Islah believe that it is not in their interest to fully implement the agreement. The first finds himself forced to identify formally to satisfy Saudi pressures, while the second uses its obstruction to expand its control on the ground.
A year of failureIn its political part, the agreement focused on forming a coalition government with the participation of the Transitional Council, while the military and security component stipulated the withdrawal of forces affiliated with the "Brotherhood" from Abyan and Shabwa and the integration of the Transitional Council forces within the strength of the army and security.
It was assumed that the fifth day of the year 2020 would not pass until the implementation of the "Riyadh Agreement" was completed with all its provisions, foremost among which was the formation of a 50/50 government between north and south Yemen, the appointment of new governors for the southern cities, and the restructuring of the army and security forces. However, this has not been achieved after a year of failure.
While the two parties had proceeded moderately to implement part of that mechanism by announcing the "transitional" abandonment of the Autonomous Administration in the south of the country, and appointing a president to the potential government and appointing a governor and a security director for Aden, the situation on the ground did not change. Rather, the Brotherhood forces raised the pace of fighting and mobilization in Abyan.
In mid-January, a detailed agreement was signed within the "Riyadh Agreement" that includes a matrix of mutual withdrawals, the return of forces to agreed locations, and the exchange of prisoners, but it did not see the light either, except for the appointment of a governor for Aden.
At the end of July 2020, the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia announced a mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement.
These include the transitional abandonment of the Autonomous Administration, the formation of a government of equal competencies between the north and the south, and the separation of the two parties' forces in (Abyan).
Based on the acceleration mechanism, the new government was supposed to be formed at the end of last August, but the matter faces major obstacles amid the insistence of the (Qatar-Turkey) axis to thwart Saudi efforts to pass the agreement, and thus a new failure in the Yemen test.
