Power, dialogue and self-determination are the most important options for southerners in light of recent developments
English - Sunday 09 April 2023 الساعة 10:34 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
Southern politicians and military believe that keeping the southern forces in their current status and not integrating them, and granting guarantees of the right to self-determination as well as the continuation of the southern-south dialogue, are the most important options for southerners to ensure the future of their state in light of the recent and rapid developments in Yemen at the political and military levels in particular, as well as in light of the ongoing talks. Between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Houthi militia, and international and regional efforts to pave the way for a comprehensive peace in the war-torn country, which entered its ninth year last month.
This came during a political symposium organized by the South24 Center for News and Studies, on Friday evening, held virtually, in which the head of the Southern National Dialogue team abroad, Ahmed Omar bin Fareed, the head of the Peace Path Initiative and a member of the Consultation and Reconciliation Commission, Rasha Jarhoum, and the researcher and political analyst Anwar Al-Tamimi, participated and the military expert and head of the Supreme Security Committee of the Southern Transitional Council, Major General Ali Awlaki.
Ibn Farid believes that the recent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a tactical, not strategic, interim agreement, but among his priorities comes the solution to the crisis in Yemen.
He said, "If the regional parties agree, this will facilitate the peace process in Yemen, which is sponsored by the United Nations. Currently, negotiations are taking place at a faster pace than before."
Commenting on what the spokesman for the Southern Transitional Council, Ali Al-Kathiri, told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, about the presidential approval of setting up a special negotiating framework for the issue of the people of the south in all stages of the political process, Bin Fareed confirms that what is meant by the four southern leaders present in the Presidential Leadership Council.
He says, "This file that concerns the southerners and their vision of how to solve this issue is in their hands today, and there is no doubt that the process is complex, and the volume of international pressure is very great, and we must value and support the southern negotiator and push him."
Bin Fareed refers to the challenges that may face the southern negotiators, especially talking about a unified state, a transitional period, the handing over of weapons, and the integration and unification of military forces. He believes that the southern negotiator can never accept the source of the power that he has. "The southern armed forces are the main guarantor of our cause," he stressed.
Bin Fareed believes that there are two main guarantees, the first is that the southern forces will not be integrated and that the southern forces will remain in their areas, and the second is that there will be a guarantee from the Arab coalition, that there will be a referendum on self-determination, as a minimum that we can accept.
However, Jerhom believes that the first point that the southerners must work on is to normalize services at the local level and fully enable the local authorities to communicate, in order to improve the conduct of the referendum step in the future.
While the political analyst Anwar Al-Tamimi agrees with Dr. Al-Awlaki, on the need not to neglect the military force on the ground, "as it is the main guarantor of the southern national political project, and any neglect or concession in some concepts and talking about a unified army and others, will cause a very great vibration to the cause of the south and the project Southern National.
Regarding the options available after the negotiations, Bin Fareed stresses the need for the three parties (the southern party, the northern party in legitimacy, and the Houthi party) to accept the road map for peace and start negotiations, pointing out that there are three main obstacles that may face the four southern leaders in the Presidential Leadership Council, Al-Masnud Its setting under the south issue.
These obstacles - according to Ben Farid - are in their internal framework, such as a presidential leadership council, around national constants. The second obstacle, if the negotiating framework and its form are agreed upon, it must be presented to their northern partners in legitimacy, and this partner has a vision that is no different from the vision of Al-Houthi. Finally, "if it is accepted by the northern parties in the legitimacy, the legitimate parties will enter into a unified framework, and present it to the Houthi side, and the question will be: Will the Houthis accept this framework?"
On the other hand, Ali al-Awlaki indicates that they are drawing up "security and military plans at the current stage on the basis that there will be a (retaliatory) stage in which the northerners may unite against the south, which is an 80% possibility." He also says, "That is why we are working to confront this potential danger after consultations."
Al-Awlaki resumes: "We are peace advocates who do not compete with anyone over wealth or resources. We want the people of the south to live in dignity as their people live in dignity, and we want to invest our wealth for the benefit of our people."
Rasha Jarhoum believes that the solution must be through peaceful and democratic means, in which the largest number of southerners are involved in setting the framework for the solution. It also considered that the formation of the delegation takes place according to the Riyadh Agreement and the consultations of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh and according to the upcoming consultations. "We will support negotiation in general, whether we participate or not, because our work supports mediation and all absentee voices," she says.
Anwar Al-Tamimi stresses the importance of "rearranging the southern interior, strengthening the southern national situation, and searching for participants, in addition to presenting the southern case as support for the Arab project, and within the international efforts to combat terrorism."
