Yemen separatist leader fled to UAE: Saudi-led coalition

RIYHAD- Yemen's separatist leader has fled to the United Arab Emirates, the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday, after an attempt to seize swathes of territory and move towards independence.

Aidaros Alzubidi was accused of high treason and removed from Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council on Wednesday, while the coalition bombed his home province after he refused to attend talks in Riyadh.

"Reliable intelligence indicates that Aidaros Alzubidi and others have escaped in the dead of night," a statement from the coalition said, detailing a boat-and-plane journey from Aden to Abu Dhabi via Somaliland and Somalia.

The leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) sailed from Aden to Berbera in Somaliland, a breakaway region in the Horn of Africa, after midnight on Wednesday, the coalition said.

He then flew in a Russian-made Ilyushin plane to Mogadishu "under the supervision of UAE officers", before continuing to a military airport in Abu Dhabi, arriving on Wednesday evening, it added.

No immediate comment was available from the UAE foreign ministry.

Last month's STC offensive brought fresh turbulence to fractured Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, and exposed deep rifts between Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

'WANTED'

The oil-rich neighbours formed the backbone of the coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who overran the capital Sanaa in 2014 and still control much of the country.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi now find themselves backing competing factions in Yemen's internationally recognised government, which includes the STC and is based in the group's southern stronghold of Aden.

The STC moved into Hadramawt and Mahra provinces bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman in December, before being pushed back by air strikes from Saudi jets and a counter-offensive by pro-Saudi land forces.

On Wednesday, the STC said its delegation of more than 50 officials had been "arbitrarily detained and taken to an unknown location" after flyingto Riyadh for talks.

The Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohamed Al-Jabir, posted a picture with 19 officials on Thursday, saying he met the STC delegation and discussed a conference on South Yemen to be held in Riyadh soon.

Alzubidi's actions "harmed the Southern cause and did not serve it, and damaged the unity of the front in confronting the enemies", he posted, referring to the Houthis.

Senior official Amr Al Bidh had also insisted Alzubidi was "with his people" in Aden on Wednesday, where government buildings were secured by forces controlled by his deputy.

In a sign of Saudi anger, Riyadh-based Arab News printed a front-page headline of "WANTED" with a photo of Alzubidi in military fatigues.

The UAE-backed separatists seek to restore independence after Yemen was formally divided between North and South from 1967 to 1990.

As coalition warplanes attacked their positions, leaving scores dead, Alzubidi declared a two-year transition to independence, including a referendum.