Will Yemen be divided into two countries again?
Separatists backed by UAE declare self rule in south in a move termed ‘clear and definite coup’.
Yemen’s complex civil war has been going on for six years.
It has aggravated decades-long divisions between the north and the south.
They joined to form one country in 1990, but it has been an uneasy unity.
Secessionists in the south now say they are going to govern alone.
The Southern Transitional Council – backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – declared self-rule, accusing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi of mismanagement.
Hadi’s government condemned the declaration as catastrophic and dangerous.
How will this complicate efforts to end the war?
Presenter: Bernard Smith
Guests:
AlKhadher Sulaiman – director of Office of Foreign Affairs, the Southern Transitional Council in New York
Elisabeth Kendall – senior research fellow, Pembroke College, University of Oxford
Abdullah Baabood – visiting professor, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore