Yemeni deputy FM says STC must be dismantled and turned into a political party only.” Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Mustapha Noman told Al Arabiya English on Friday that the Southern Transitional Council (STC) has to be dismantled, or at the very least it will have to give up arms and become a political organization only.
“The [STC] is now an outlawed entity…They have led a rebellion against the internationally recognized government. This entity has to be dismantled or at least their status has to be changed… They have to turn into a political party or political entity.”
Noman also slammed STC head Aidarus al-Zubaidi saying he is not a representative of the whole south of Yemen and that while his personal ambition is to rule the south, he “will discover that he’s left alone in the south and he will have no place to stay and he will have to leave the country.”
“He has to admit he is not the only representative of the south. There are many southern blocs that are not under his umbrella. Now he is trying to impose himself as the sole leader, as the sole representative of all the southern territory. [This] is not true…I am sure that he is going to either recalculate his measures or to just be absent out of the country.”
He also said that the STC’s claims that it does not have enough political representation within the present authority are false, noting that the STC has three out of eight seats in the Presidential Leadership Council and two thirds of the majority in the cabinet.
