Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council dismissed Faraj Salmeen Al-Bahsani, its last member backed by the United Arab Emirates, completing a rapid reordering of the internationally recognized government after Saudi-aligned forces defeated a southern separatist advance.
The eight-seat council announced in an official resolution that Bahsani’s membership had been terminated. He was a vice president of the UAE-supported Southern Transitional Council and a former governor of Hadramawt, Yemen’s largest province and a center of oil production. He had been receiving medical treatment in the UAE.
The resolution cited his support for STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the separatists’ territorial takeover and statements Bahsani made publicly. Zubaidi, who also held a council seat, was removed earlier in January after being accused of high treason.
In December, STC forces briefly captured Hadramawt and another key province. Saudi Arabia opposed the move and helped reverse it through airstrikes and allied forces on the ground. The campaign pushed Emirati-backed units from the territory and altered the balance within the anti-Houthi coalition.
Days before his dismissal, Bahsani told AFP that southern forces, including UAE-backed separatists, would not accept unification under the command of a Saudi-led coalition. He also urged Riyadh to let southern factions meet outside Saudi Arabia, arguing that participants would face pressure if talks were held in the kingdom.
Zubaidi later called for supporters to rally in Aden and back the separatists’ declaration of an independent southern state. Saudi officials said he fled to the UAE after his forces were defeated, while his location remained disputed.
A high-level separatist delegation in Riyadh announced the dissolution of the STC. The organization rejected that decision as coerced and accused Saudi Arabia of detaining its representatives. These conflicting claims show that the group’s formal status and leadership remained contested even as it lost positions in the presidential council.
The STC seeks to recreate South Yemen, an independent state that existed from 1967 until unification in 1990. Its goals have always sat uneasily within the internationally recognized government, whose members were united principally by opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis rather than agreement over Yemen’s future structure.
The Houthis expelled the recognized government from Sanaa in 2014 and continue to control much of northern Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both supported forces opposing them, but Riyadh and Abu Dhabi cultivated different Yemeni partners. The presidential council previously embodied that division.
Removing Bahsani eliminates the final openly UAE-backed voice from the body and strengthens Saudi influence over its decisions. It does not resolve southern separatist demands or the war with the Houthis. Instead, it narrows the coalition’s internal power structure after a military and political rupture between former partners.
