ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ministries and government bodies based in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Sunday announced their support for recent military expansion by the pro-secession Southern Transitional Council (STC).
The Ministry of Civil Service and Insurance said in a statement that it supports "the aspirations of the people of the South to implement their will," calling on the international community and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to respect these aspirations more than three decades after Yemen's unification.
The ministry also reaffirmed its backing of the STC leadership's decisions, stressing its commitment to protecting public sector employees' rights, maintaining administrative stability, and ensuring the continued functioning of state institutions.
Other Aden-based ministries and government bodies, including the ministries of agriculture and fisheries and of social affairs and labor, issued similar statements.
Senior government officials, including the deputy ministers of information and culture and of water, also voiced support for the STC's declared positions, while pledging to continue their administrative and service-related duties without interruption.
The support reflects deepening divisions within Yemen's power-sharing government, as several southern-origin ministers who favor greater autonomy remained in Aden, while ministers from northern Yemen left the city in protest against the STC's recent military deployment in the country's strategic eastern provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahrah earlier this month.
The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) said the STC's actions were "unilateral" and "illegitimate," calling for the immediate withdrawal of STC forces from the eastern regions.
The STC, however, refused to pull back its forces, maintaining its deployment in the areas and initiating recruitment campaigns among local residents, describing the steps as part of efforts to consolidate security and administration.
Although the STC is formally part of the UN-recognized Yemeni government, it continues to advocate for the secession of southern Yemen. Founded in 2017, the council seeks to restore an independent southern state, reversing the 1990 unification of the former North and South Yemen.
Yemen has remained mired in conflict since 2014, when Houthi militants seized control of the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally-recognized government. ■
