Politics

South Yemen dialogue: obstacles and opportunity

Riyadh wants to help Yemen's various southern factions come up with creative solutions. It wants a unified Yemen, but other parties have a different agenda, complicating efforts to hold a conference.

Reuters

Abdul Rahman Al-Mahrami, a member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, speaks during the Southern Consultative Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 18 January 2026.

South Yemen dialogue: obstacles and opportunity

Anwar Al-Ansi

last update on 27 Jan 2026

Saudi Arabia is set to host a dialogue between various actors in the south of Yemen after a tumultuous two months in which half the country’s territory changed hands in a brief uprising by secessionists. Some see the discussions as a decisive step forward that could align the visions of rival southern factions and create a workable platform for negotiations. Others say it simply extends the years-long impasse.

Saudi Arabia agreed to host the talks at the request of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, hoping to avoid further turmoil in its neighbour after years of what the government called reckless meddling by the United Arab Emirates under the anti-Houthi coalition’s banner. This interference fostered militias, one of which advanced into the regions of Hadramout and Al Mahrah in December 2025, before withdrawing.

The turbulence has hampered the government’s ability to function in the interim capital, Aden, and undermined efforts to stabilise the south and unify forces opposed to the Houthi movement in northern Yemen. Some in the south want to restore the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), 35 years after unification under a single state whose constitution was approved by referendum.

Systems and laws were united, and the state gained recognition at the United Nations and elsewhere. Some argue that the South cannot break away from the North even if a referendum on self-determination were held, because the 1989 constitution that both states signed does not allow it.

No fixed date

There are fears that talks about southern Yemen in Riyadh could end in discord, pushing all sides to the brink of conflict, such as the divisions and grievances, recently exacerbated by the reported discovery of UAE-run prisons in Yemen’s south. As yet, there is no fixed date for convening a conference and no mechanism for its management, with some wanting to limit attendees only to South Yemeni components. Yet even within camps, there is disagreement on the best form of governance.

FADEL SENNA / AFP — Yemeni Minister of Information Moamar Alaryani speaks to the press inside a military camp formerly controlled by the UAE in Al-Dhaba, in the southern Hadramout province, on 20 January 2026.

After a decade of conflict, Yemen is a country exhausted by internecine strife. The Riyadh conference faces challenges that cannot be overcome by good intentions alone. After forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC)—whose leader is now in hiding—advanced into the oil-rich governorates of Hadramout and Al Mahrah, old wounds reopened, reviving a level of rancour that many hoped belonged to the past.

Key challenges

The most important challenge ahead of the talks is deciding who to invite. The southern political researcher Radwan Al Atiqi raises questions around geographic representation. He notes that the likely participants will comprise 38 from Al Dhale, 22 from Aden, six from Al Mahrah, five from Lahij, four from Yafa’a, three from Hadramout, two from Shabwah, one from Abyan, and one from Radfan.

Some in the south want to restore the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen 35 years after unification

Al Atiqi believes that this raises questions about the fairness and inclusivity of southern representation. Another challenge is that the South-South dialogue conference is not being held in Yemen's south. Although the Abu Dhabi-aligned STC has dissolved itself, there is growing focus on Saudi Arabia's role, calls for greater candour over the reasons for the failure of Yemen's unification, and a sober assessment of whether the issues can be solved without cleaving the country in two.

Reuters — The second session of the National Dialogue Conference was held in Sana'a on 20 March 2013.

Conferences over the years

Riyadh has hosted several conferences on Yemen, most notably in May 2015, which brought together a range of political parties (the Houthis were invited but did not attend). This helped galvanise the anti-Houthi coalition before relations deteriorated, not helped by a power struggle between the president and his vice president, which led to a restructuring and a new leadership.

In 2022, Riyadh hosted more talks on Yemen under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's presidency was weak, and he stepped down, leading to a historic agreement to establish an eight-member Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) to steer the Yemeni state, but yet again, disputes soon erupted. Despite having a seat at the table, the STC's agenda diverged markedly.

Riyadh's diplomatic efforts are not limited to conferences. It has sought to bolster Yemen's internationally recognised government across a range of international forums, facilitating regular donor meetings in cities like Berlin aimed at mobilising the funding needed for the humanitarian response plan.

Saudi Arabia does not see itself as a party to the current crisis and does not intend to impose an agenda on South-South dialogue. Rather, it sees its role as facilitating the discussions, away from the charged atmosphere in southern Yemen. The aim is to let the parties decide how best to manage their disputes until a comprehensive and fair political agreement is reached for the whole of Yemen, not just the south.

Factional agendas

Critics say attendees are more likely to seek the best interests not of Yemen but of their particular regions or tribes, when in fact they should be representing southern society as a whole. But this ignores the history of southern Yemen, which was never a single, unified entity. Rather, it was made up of multiple polities.

AFP — A tour for foreign media organised by the Yemeni government in the city of Mukalla in the southern coastal province of Hadramout, Yemen, on 20 January 2026.

When Britain occupied Aden in 1839, it did so to secure the strategic value of its port at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, thereby protecting the maritime route used by British merchant vessels bound for India. The areas surrounding Aden were governed by weak sultanates and protectorates that Britain sought to fold into what it called the 'Arab South'. Hadramout and Al Mahrah were not part of that arrangement.

The South only unified in 1967, after the British left Aden and the National Front seized power, carrying the process through. The transition was far from peaceful, however. Almost 60 years later, the killings and violence remain vivid in the collective memory of Hadramis and those from Al Mahrah.

Some of those nominated to take part in the Riyadh dialogue still favour the restoration of a southern state, but the reality of the situation leaves little room for that at present. Yemen has been likened to a dense knot of interlocking problems, tightly wrapped together. The solution is a settlement that satisfies everyone. Whether that is possible remains to be seen, but the Saudis are willing to try.

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