Yemen's separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) early on Sunday announced it would establish a self-ruled administration in the regions under their control, which the internationally recognized Saudi-backed government said would have "catastrophic consequences" for a November peace deal.
Under a deal to end the power struggle in south Yemen agreed in Riyadh, the STC and other regions in the south were supposed to join a new national cabinet and place all forces under control of the internationally recognized government. The STC is supported by the United Arab Emirates.
"The Southern Transitional Council announces a self administration rule in the south, as of midnight Saturday, April 25th 2020", a statement by the STC said early on Sunday.
Emergency rules were also announced in the city of Aden and all the southern governorates, the statement added.
Reuters witnesses reported heavy security deployment of STC armed forces in Aden, the interim capital of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's internationally recognized government which was ousted from the capital Sanaa in 2014 by the Iran-aligned Houthis.
"The announcement by the so-called transitional council of its intention to establish a southern administration is a resumption of its armed insurgency... and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement," Yemen's Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami said in a statement posted by the ministry on Twitter.
"The so-called transitional council will bear alone the dangerous and catastrophic consequences for such an announcement," the statement added.
STC is part of the alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore power to Hadi's government. But the separatists, who had sought self-rule in the south, turned on the government in August and seized its interim seat of Aden.
The Yemeni government blames UAE-backed separatist movements of rebelling against the government in the southern provinces and Socotra province, which comprises six islands.
Last Saturday, government forces took back control of a military camp in Socotra that was seized by STC separatists.
On April 8, the Socotra Governorate blamed the STC of conspiring to kill Governor Ramzi Mahrous.
Armed groups of the STC made a failed attempt to seize Socotra in October 2019, and UAE-backed militias raided the main airport in December and took hostages.
The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition that launched a massive air campaign in 2015 against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who overran much of Yemen, including capital of Sanaa, a year earlier.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis are since believed to have been killed and injured in the conflict, while 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.
