Mon - 19 Aug 2019 - 05:12 PM ،،،
MBS
What will result from the Riyadh meetings? Is Hadi's government in the wind? And how the southern transitional rule? Who owns the decision in Aden? And how did things develop and the relationship between the southern factions ?, these and other issues raised by "Sputnik" to Dr. Mohammed Afifi, Vice-President of the Southern Transitional Council of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries in the following interview …
Sputnik: How can you describe what the Transitional Council in Aden has done, a coup against legitimacy or empowerment of popular will?
What the Transitional Council has done in our assessment is an option that was inevitable. The southern issue is not the result of the current time. There are accumulations on the political and economic levels at all levels. The leadership in the Transitional Council should have dealt with the popular choice positively and invest the moment, which has already happened. The Arab and foreign media should know that there is a broad popular base for the NTC as the political bearer of the southern issue, so the council has only had to translate the clear choices of the southern people of restoring the full southern state by 1990, and maintaining the Region and international interests.
Sputnik: How will the transition maintain international and regional interests?
This comes through entering into a regional and international strategic partnership to combat and eradicate terrorism from the South, because if left to regulate its ranks will not be a threat to the South, but to the region and the world at large, and represents the strategic region of the world at the political and economic levels.
Sputnik: Why did the transitional council move from peaceful to arms and unite the southern issue without the rest of the factions .. Is not this a call for internal fighting?
Peaceful choice is still the best and master of the situation, and communication with the southern components that support the stability of the region and the rights of the southern people and aspirations towards the establishment of a state and stability are still continuing until this moment and steadily, and who reads the current southern scene believes that non-resolution will be the worst option, because it will allow reorganization The terrorist cells are different, because the Islah Party has the organization and armament that makes it a threat not only to the south but to the entire region.
Silence on this situation means silence on terrorist groups in the region, so the option of combating terrorism was the best in partnership with the UAE and other countries.When President Aidroos al-Zubaidi visited Russia, the council's view was clear, that we could be partners that depend on us in the fight against terrorism. The scourge of the present and the danger of the future.
Sputnik: Have you seen regional and international reactions to what the council did in Aden?
There are regional and international views in support of the recent resolution of the Southern Transitional Council, which came as a reaction and support for the unprecedented southern popular boil, and as for the process of communication with other southern entities, the battle of the last five days in Aden confirmed that the basic rule is the southern tolerance and reconciliation Many have bet that this battle will not be resolved and will go into the unknown.
But the reality confirmed the convictions of the Transitional Council and other southern leaders, that all southerners on the basis of reconciliation and tolerance, which they believe in and follow it, as evidenced by the containment of events in the shortest period of time and with the least losses.
Sputnik: Some say that the UAE is using you in its international war against the Brotherhood and does not believe in your cause.
The southern issue is a clear-cut issue and the demands have preceded the entry of the coalition to Yemen for many years in 2007, when the peaceful movement erupted, besides that our choice is known: independence and restoration of the state and those who are with us in this direction welcome, and those who have other theses will disagree with him In total, our strategic alliance is not only with the UAE but with the countries of the region and other Arab and international countries in the fight against terrorism. There is complete independence for our southern decision stemming from the aspirations and convictions of our people in the South.
Sputnik: What is the character of the transition in the south now and how much the world accepts it?
Talking about the international recognition of the Transitional Council as the premier of the South, what we want to emphasize is that the decision of the resolution is internal south, in addition to the need for an independent southern administration to manage the affairs of the South in an institutionalized orderly, and what is known as legitimacy and its characters is a set of corrupt symbols Of great caliber, the tragic situation in the south must be reconsidered urgently.
So the countries of the region and the world will deal with what is on the ground, and the transition on the ground and we have a lot of political tools in the logic and reason to dialogue with everyone without exception.
The follower of the recent events in Aden will have the conviction that the southerners have benefited greatly from the failures of the past, the stages experienced by the south negatively and positively affected all our decisions and directed in the right path, the recent decisive events proved that the southern will above all will, the principle of reconciliation and southern tolerance We can be neutral and the south will rise only with all its people. We believe in all sects and in wide partnership and the southern decision is a collective decision.
Sputnik: Transitional control of the capital Aden .. What about the rest of the regions?
Aden is the capital and it is known, who controls the capital controls the rest of the areas, and there must be a highly competent, professional and professional management is an issue on its way to resolve, and we will not accept the military presence of the Brotherhood forces in the south at all.
Sputnik: The fate of the government and President Hadi .. Is the resolution of their return to the south?
We have no dispute about the legitimacy of President Hadi, our real struggle with the system of corruption that ruled the south and turned it into a quagmire lacking everything, and the camps of legitimacy has become a shelter for many terrorists and internationally wanted.
Sputnik: Can the Riyadh meetings produce a joint transitional government and legitimacy?
It is premature to talk about such matters. I would like to clarify that the Transitional Council and its leadership have an integrated vision of what needs to be done in the south during the next phase, based on the perception of an exclusive southern administration that manages state institutions in all the southern governorates, to change the political, economic and service landscape of the south. Which has a lot of competencies, and I think this will be decided after the Riyadh meetings.
Sputnik: Who is behind the events of Aden .. Is planned by the Transitional Council?
The southern issue has its dimensions. There can be no overnight state with all its institutions and constituents. They represent the northern system, and all of them want the south to remain the same, and the recent events in the evacuation camp and police Sheikh Osman was a straw, which broke the camel's back, and the latest events is the spark that united the south in all its spectrums.
Sputnik: If the transitional council is empowered in the south, what is your position on the Houthis in the north?
This is a somewhat complex question, and we have to wait for the outcome of the Riyadh meetings, which I believe will produce guidelines both at the southern level and on the fate of the war in Yemen.
Secondly, we are an integral part of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and there may be a strategy in the coming days may vary or change depending on the facts of the stage and reality.
Sputnik: Do you think Yemen still needs Hadi's government?
For us as southerners, it would have been better not to have them, but on the other hand, regional estimates are due to regional states. As I said, "Hadi's legitimacy is not in dispute with us."
In no case do we accept the return of those structures expelled from Aden, the abnormal corruption they represent, as well as foreign agendas, which we do not accept in the south, but in other regions there are regional and international arrangements.
Sputnik: Are there any relations between you and the Houthis under the rule of one oppression under the rule of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh?
Many of the Houthi leaders were talking about the oppression of the south and the south, but what I would say is that the Houthis are an integral part of the Zaidi group, and Ali Abdullah Saleh allied with him before his death.
The Houthis were talking about the oppression of the south, but the reality is that we are part of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and any strategy approved by the coalition will be the important part.
Sputnik: Will Saudi Arabia follow the example of the UAE and reduce or withdraw its forces from Yemen in the coming period?
I apologize for the answer to this question.
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