The deployment of pro-government forces in the port city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramut, came as local authorities announced plans to restore order across the Eastern Province. According to the Yemeni government’s official agency, Abdulhadi al Tamimi, deputy governor of Hadramut, said on Sunday that this stabilization marks the beginning of a phase of cooperation between citizens, provincial authorities and the “Shield of the Fatherland” brigades in charge of combating the separatist presence in the region.
As the state authority and various media outlets such as South24 report, the withdrawal of Southern Transitional Council (STC) combatants from Hadramut comes just as the internationally recognized government and Saudi Arabia are pushing forward a dialogue process. This process includes organizing a summit in Riyadh with the aim of starting negotiations on the secession issue that has caused the recent political and military crisis in Yemen’s eastern provinces.
The CTS, a separatist force in southern Yemen, launched an offensive against the governorates of Al Mahra and Hadramut at the end of the previous year. This action was part of its historic claims, as Yemen functioned as two independent states, one in the north and one in the south, until 1990. During the civil war, the CTS provided its support to the recognized Yemeni executive, albeit conditionally, and in return demanded guarantees related to its southern independence project.
Media outlet South24 said local security sources had confirmed the entry of central government-aligned forces into Mukalla following the withdrawal of independents. In response to the CTS offensive launched in December, Saudi Arabia, which leads the coalition supporting the Yemeni government, carried out bombings last week in areas controlled by the separatist movement, the agency and government press said.
The Homeland Shield Brigades, described by the authorities as independent, operate in the south of the country from Lahj Governorate under the supervision of the Riyadh-led coalition. These units are primarily responsible for surveillance and protection work in areas considered sensitive in the context of the ongoing territorial conflict that has been ravaging southern Yemen for several years.
International media focus has tended to focus on the confrontation between the Yemeni executive and the Houthi movement, which has controlled Sanaa for a decade, overshadowing the ongoing push for independence in the south. However, the recent offensive and subsequent withdrawal of the CTS has given greater importance to the territorial disputes in Hadramut and Al Mahra.
The current start of talks and the convening of a summit in Riyadh represent the latest diplomatic attempt to ease tensions over secessionist demands. According to the official agency of the Yemeni government, the restoration of state authority in Hadramut lays the foundation for a concerted political solution in the south of the country, relying on the diplomatic impulse of Saudi Arabia and the logistical support of Shield of the Fatherland.
Although the outcome of these negotiations is still uncertain, the withdrawal of the CTS from East Yemen and the arrival of government-aligned forces in Mukalla show changes in the territorial structure and balance of power in the region after a period marked by confrontations, precarious agreements and renewed attempts at international mediation, official government media said. In this context, the dispute over territorial control and the pursuit of stability continue to determine the political and military dynamics in southern and eastern Yemen.
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