Aden (south24)

Prominent leaders of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) raised, On Tuesday, the flag of the former state of South Yemen (the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen) on the mast of the presidential palace in Aden, which is still used by the new Yemeni government, where the flag of "unity" was raised between the countries of South and North more than thirty years ago on the 22 May 1990.

The move came, according to STC's officials, in celebration of the fourth anniversary of the historic Aden Declaration, May 4, 2017. 

On that day, hundreds of thousands gathered in the city of Khor-Maksar in Aden, and announced the mandate of Major General Aidaros Al-Zubaidi to manage the political situation. This resulted in the establishment of the Southern Transitional Council as the first political entity to represent the interests of the southerners and the "Southern cause".

The negotiation team of the STC, headed by Dr. Nasser Al-Khubbaji, held a flag-raising ceremony, with the participation of a military parade. A brass band played the national anthem.

To commemorate May 4, 2017, when people of South Yemen came out to give mandate to the STC, the flag of #SouthYemen, that was taken down from top of pres palace in 1994, was raised again today, in Tawahi Aden. #TheSouthWillRiseAgain#يوم_التفويض_الجنوب

pic.twitter.com/82vXdrtswz

— Sahar Alyafai سحر (@saharyafa) May 4, 2021

This event - which met with great interaction from southern Yemen activists on social media and local media - comes three days after the president of the STC, Aidaros Al-Zubaidi, returned to Aden from the UAE. 

The anniversary of May 4 "prepares for a greater start that puts our people and their cause on the brink of new and decisive victories," said the STC spokesman Ali Al Kathiri on twitter.

The return of Al-Zubaidi

Al-Zubaidi left Aden on January 22, 2020, to Abu Dhabi to complete the consultations on the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement signed between the Council and the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

In March 2020, Saudi Arabia prevented a number of the council’s leaders from returning to Aden, while they intended to leave Amman International Airport in Jordan.

Al-Zubaidi's return sparked controversy in Yemeni media opposing the council. Belqis TV of the Islah party (the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Yemen), which broadcasts from Turkey, said that Al-Zubaidi's return "constitutes an additional complication of the political scene."

Aden is witnessing an almost collapsed service situation, in the absence of the parity government, which resulted from the Riyadh Agreement, and some of its members fled Aden, following angry popular protests that reached the government headquarters in "Al-Masheeq Palace", on March 16.

The Southern Transitional Council accuses "separate authorities" trying to thwart the new government in Aden, in reference to the Yemeni presidency in Riyadh.

Al-Zubaidi stressed “the approach and strategy based on adhering to the Riyadh agreement and the necessity to implement all its provisions, and the necessity of the STC’s participation in the negotiations of the comprehensive political process to represent the people of South," according to the council’s official website.

Raised forever

The representative of the Transitional Council in Europe, Ahmed bin Farid, said that the flag was raised today in order to remain "a symbol of our independent state."

"This state will be an incubator for all the people of South, from Mahra to Bab al-Mandab,..in harmony with its Arab neighborhood and a real addition to the international community that fights terrorism and aims for security and peace," added Bin Farid on Twitter.

The journalist for Sky News Arabia, Hani Mashour, said: "On May 22, 1990 that the flag of South was lowered from the Tawahi mast and the flag of the Republic of Yemen was raised, and today on May 4, 2021, on the same mast the flag of South was raised forever."

في ٢٢ مايو ١٩٩٠ انزل من على سارية التواهي علم الجنوب ورفع علم الجمهورية اليمنية واليوم في ٤ مايو ٢٠٢١ وعلى ذات السارية رفع علم الجنوب وللأبد✌✌✌ #يوم_التفويض_الجنوبي #اعلان_عدن_التاريخي #ذكرى_تحرير_عدن pic.twitter.com/A6EVPFB0yA

— هاني مسهور (@hsom67) May 4, 2021

While battles for control of Marib are still ongoing between the Houthis and the fighters loyal to the Yemeni president, the southern forces announced a few days ago that they had achieved field progress in large areas in the northwest of Al-Dhalea, after violent battles. Dozens of Houthis were killed, according to a military source who spoke to "south24''.

In light of these developments, reports said that the fall of Ma'rib, the last stronghold of Yemeni President Hadi in North Yemen, in the hands of the Houthis, would make "the secession of the south inevitable". This coincides with a breakthrough in relations between the two main rivals in the region, Riyadh and Tehran.

- South24 Center for News & Studies