19 Feb 2021; MEMO: A member of the Yemeni Parliament, Hamid Al-Ahmar, accused both Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of working to divide Yemen to extend their influence in the region through their "local tools", in reference to armed groups they support.
"Iran seeks to divide Yemen to create an entity that follows it, and the UAE does not mind dividing Yemen to have a part of the country that is under its leadership through tools it believes it can create and manage that would enable it to control ports and islands," Al- Ahmar said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Al-Ahmar explained that the solution lies in the national dialogue which proposed to create a unified entity with a type of autonomous administration or a federal system.
The MP denied that the UAE had ended its military presence in Yemen, confirming that Emirati forces are still present in several regions and continue their support of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias and other political components which he did not name.
According to the official, the UAE, through its ambassador in Moscow, coordinated the visit of some southern leaders to Russia and held meetings with the Wagner Company, an elusive private military company which has sent fighters to numerous war zones in the Middle East.
Regarding calls to end the war and enter a political process, Al-Ahmar said he believes it would be difficult to achieve a political solution with the Iran-backed Houthis, ruling out the possibility that the group is serious and able to enter into a peaceful political process without the presence of a deterrent force represented by the internationally-backed government.
Impoverished Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.
The war, in which the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) back the Saudi-led coalition, has killed more than 100,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations (UN) official data.
