Araweelo News Network

Smoke rises from inside a military camp the day after UAE-backed fighters took control of the position of Hadi forces in the northern Dar Saad district of Aden on January 31, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Riyadh(ANN)-Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has finally broken his silence, accusing the United Arab Emirates of undermining stability in Yemen.

Hadi, who is reportedly under house arrest in Saudi Arabia, released an audio recording from Riyadh, saying the UAE is behind the latest clashes in Yemen’s city of Aden, Watan newspaper reported Sunday.

The UAE, he said, is plotting a coup in the southern port city.

Hadi said the Emirati regime is pursuing its own interests in Yemen and is competing with Saudi Arabia for influence in the impoverished country. Saudi Arabia launched a bloody military campaign early in 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Hadi and crush the Houthis who administer the capital Sana’a.

Saudi-backed forces loyal to Hadi controlled Eden but were ousted last month by the UAE-backed separatists after bloody clashes.

Fighters from the separatist Southern Transitional Council rest at a military camp after they took control of the position of forces loyal to Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in the northern Dar Saad district of Aden on January 31, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The recent fighting, in which the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) turned against their former allies, laid bare the underlying rifts between the UAE and Saudi Arabia and their jockeying for position in Yemen.

The STC first joined forces with the pro-Hadi militants against the Houthis, but divisions appeared amid accusations that Hadi sought to marginalize the UAE-trained forces.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are currently in a damage control mode, sending a “top military and security delegation” to Eden where dozens of people were killed and hundreds of others injured in clashes.

Aden lies at the cross-section of multiple trade routes. The resulting commercial importance has prompted a historical struggle over the city’s control.