The separatists in southern Yemen have brought the strategically important island of Socotra under their control. As representatives of both parties to the conflict said, the separatists began setting up an autonomous government on the island at the weekend.
The conquest of Socotra puts additional pressure on President Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi’s government. A government spokesman asked the Saudi-led military coalition for assistance.
A senior representative of the separatist Transitional Council in South Yemen (STC), Salem Abdullah al-Socotri, congratulated the fighters on taking Socotra. They „normalized“ the situation on the island, he explained.
„Adult coup“
As the AFP news agency learned from security circles, the separatists had started the Socotra operation on Friday, and yesterday they completely occupied the island. The fighters initially landed in the island’s capital, Hadibu, and set up checkpoints there.
A spokesman for the Yemeni government spoke, according to the official news agency SABA, of a „full-blown coup“ on the island’s nearby important shipping routes in the Indian Ocean. He called on the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen to support the fight against the separatists. The military coalition is already supporting the government in the fight against pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in northern Yemen.
The STC had proclaimed its own government in southern Yemen at the end of April. The separatists have been fighting for an independent state in southern Yemen for decades. Such a state had existed before Yemeni unification in 1990.
