Aden (South24 Center)

Official work resumed at the main headquarters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and the office of its president, Major General Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, in the capital Aden on Monday, June 15, after a two-day closure.

STC spokesman Anwar Al-Tamimi said in a new statement issued Monday that official work had resumed as usual at the Council’s main headquarters, which includes Al-Zubaidi’s office and the offices of the STC Presidency. He said the resumption came after a two-day closure that followed the prevention of STC leaders and administrative staff by a military force from entering the headquarters.

In a previous statement issued Sunday, Al-Tamimi accused what he described as “forces of the Saudi tutelage authorities” of being behind the closure of the STC’s main headquarters and Al-Zubaidi’s office in Aden. He called the move a “dangerous escalation and unacceptable provocation.” There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia or the relevant official authorities regarding the accusation.

Al-Tamimi added that the Council had been forced to issue an official statement calling on the southern public to mobilize and declare its rejection of what he described as “provocative steps” targeting the STC’s main headquarters, citing its political symbolism for the Arab South.

“Today, after work resumed at the main headquarters, we express our great pride in our great southern masses, who have proven at every turning point that they are the true protector of the project to restore the southern state,” Al-Tamimi said.

He also expressed thanks and appreciation to “southern military leaders,” saying they had shown keenness to spare the capital Aden the causes of tension and instability.

The resumption of work follows a wave of criticism sparked by the closure, which the STC described as a “dangerous escalation and unacceptable provocation.” The Council said targeting its main headquarters and the office of its president represented a direct assault on the will of the people of the South.

In a statement issued Sunday, Al-Tamimi said the main headquarters “does not merely represent an administrative office, but stands as an address for the will of the people of the South and a platform for defending their rights and political cause.” The Council affirmed its rejection of any measures targeting its premises or obstructing its political and organizational activities.

In Monday’s statement, Al-Tamimi said the STC would remain “a safety valve for the southern liberation project” and its “authorized representative,” adding that it would not deviate from the goal of restoring “the independent federal southern national state within its internationally recognized borders before May 22, 1990.”

The incident brings back into focus a series of previous closures that have affected STC premises in Aden since last February. On February 22, security forces closed the headquarters of the STC National Assembly and its Foreign Affairs Authority in Al-Tawahi district, before the measures later extended to the headquarters of the General Secretariat, disrupting the work of three of the Council’s most prominent institutions in the capital.

In late March, the STC called on its supporters to gather outside its closed premises in Aden, while employees of the General Secretariat continued to hold protest vigils outside their closed headquarters. The Council said at the time that the closure obstructed its organizational and political activities without legal justification.

On April 1, crowds of STC supporters reopened several of the Council’s premises in Aden during a peaceful public event, which the Council said came in response to its call and in rejection of the closure decisions.

The resumption of work included several key STC premises, including the National Assembly, the Council of Advisors, the General Secretariat, and the Foreign Affairs Authority, according to STC-affiliated media.

In late April, a security force stormed the STC headquarters in the city of Seiyun hours after it had reopened, removing southern flags and identification signs from the building. The Council said at the time that the premises had been vandalized and their contents confiscated.