Aidarous al-Zubaidi, president of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), was dismissed from his post in Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Wednesday for allegedly committing “high treason”, the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) said.
The move came hours after al-Zubaidi reportedly fled Yemen by boat to Bosaso, a key port city in Somalia’s Puntland region, evading a scheduled flight to Riyadh for coalition talks.
Al-Zubaidi, 51, was set to depart Sanaa on Tuesday evening for meetings in the Saudi capital on Wednesday morning, sources close to the coalition told Reuters. Instead, he failed to board the flight, prompting an immediate search and rescue operation.
Yemeni security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Zubaidi crossed the Gulf of Aden overnight, exploiting porous maritime borders between Yemen and Somalia. Local fishermen in Bosaso reported sighting an unmarked vessel docking early Wednesday, though Puntland authorities have yet to confirm his arrival.
The Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen’s government against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, confirmed the dismissal in a statement, citing “acts of betrayal against the Yemeni state”. It did not elaborate on the treason charges.
The STC, a UAE-backed separatist group controlling much of southern Yemen, including Aden, has been a reluctant partner in the anti-Houthi alliance since joining the Presidential Leadership Council in 2022. Al-Zubaidi’s ouster risks reigniting clashes between STC forces and government troops, which killed dozens in 2019 and 2020.
Analysts say the split reflects deepening rifts over power-sharing and oil-rich Hadramaut province.
“This is a body blow to fragile unity efforts,” said Peter Salisbury, a Yemen expert at the Chatham House think tank. “Al-Zubaidi’s flight signals STC disillusionment with Saudi mediation.”
The PLC, headed by Rashad al-Alimi, assumed Yemen’s presidency after Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi’s 2022 handover. It oversees a patchwork coalition strained by the nearly decade-long war that has killed over 377,000 people, mostly from indirect causes like famine, according to UN estimates.
Al-Zubaidi’s reported refuge in Puntland raises alarms over cross-border militancy. Somalia’s Puntland, semi-autonomous and a hub for arms smuggling, shares tribal and clan ties with Yemen’s southerners. Bosaso, a smuggling hotspot, has hosted Yemeni exiles before amid Houthi missile threats across the Gulf.
Puntland’s information minister, Yusuf Hassan, declined immediate comment. Somalia’s federal government in Mogadishu, battling al-Shabaab insurgents, has coordinated with Riyadh on counterterrorism but views Yemen spillover warily.
The UAE, STC’s main patron, has not commented. Abu Dhabi has scaled back Yemen operations since a 2019 truce but maintains influence via ports like Socotra. Houthi media celebrated the dismissal as “internal collapse” of the coalition, without evidence.
Al-Zubaidi’s successors remain unclear, with speculation on interim STC leadership. Saudi Arabia, leading fragile peace talks, urged “restraint” in a diplomatic note seen by Al Jazeera.
Yemen’s war-torn south braces for fallout as humanitarian needs mount. The UN warns of looming famine for 5 million amid Red Sea shipping disruptions by Houthis.