Speech of President Al-Zoubaidi in inauguration of Founding Meeting of the STC House of Commons

SMA NEWS- ADEN THE CAPITAL
President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zoubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Vice Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), inaugurated today, Tuesday, in the capital, Aden, the founding meeting of the House of Commons of the STC.

At the opening of the session, which began with the southern national anthem and verses from the Holy Quran, the President delivered a speech, the full text of which is as follows:

In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
“And if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower” Allah Almighty is truthful.

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the House of Commons, distinguished guests, all attendees, one and all,

Peace, mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you,

First of all, I would like to welcome you to the capital, Aden, and congratulate you and all our people on the beginning of the new year, hoping that our people will enjoy greater security, stability, development, and national empowerment. I am also pleased to join this blessed gathering and this leading elite from various parts of our beloved homeland. Let us firmly stand together in the face of the concerns and suffering of our people, their hopes and aspirations, and consider our options to make our decisions in a way that serves the supreme national interests of the people of the South.

Brothers and Sisters, Members of the House of Commons:
Here you are today, from the capital, Aden, launching the founding meeting of the House of Commons, which includes (the Presidium, the National Assembly, the Council of Advisors, and the Supreme Executive Body), embodying the southern national cohesiveness, to enhance political performance and institutional construction on the path to restoring and building our independent federal state of the South. Indeed, you have a great responsibility at this crucial moment, which requires intensifying efforts and mobilizing energies and potentials to serve our people and to achieve triumph for their national project.

Ladies and gentlemen:
The experiences of the past have shown the steadfastness of our southern people and their victory for their identity, cause, and genius national values. This was demonstrated in the Declaration of “Southern Reconciliation and Tolerance” and the commitment to a peaceful approach to expressing the legitimate demands of our people of the South without being drawn into violence, despite the campaigns of repression to which they were subjected. They also embodied the most wonderful feats of sacrifice, redemption, and national solidarity, in resisting the aggressive Houthi invasion of the South in 2015. And always, whenever the troubles get worse, our people emerge more resilient and cohesive than before.

These noble values are what enabled our people to overcome crises and always make them stronger and more determined to defend their principles, adapt circumstances, overcome tragedies, and draw inspiration from the lessons of the past to continue on their paths towards building the aspired future for the people and the homeland on solid foundations and established rules.

Our people have spent three decades struggling to restore and build their state. It is a people’s struggle to build a state of law and order and the development of the homeland and the human being. Regardless of the dominance and conflicts of the tribal, religious, and military forces of Sana’a.

Three decades have passed since our people revolted, committed to the approach of peaceful struggle against the machine of military repression. As the crisis intensifies and the extent of the restrictions, pain, and suffering increases, our people’s motivations to pursue other options to take by force their rights in peace or war are increasing. This happened before, and it may happen again if it is required.

Our march to restore and build the federal state of the South is neither irreversible nor irrevocable, and it will never be deterred by intimidation campaigns, terrorist operations, or invasion hordes. The only way to peace is to return to the two-state situation before May 21, 1990. This is of southern, Yemeni, regional, and international interest.

Dear sisters and brothers:
We do believe in the importance of the cohesiveness of the home front, as it is the cornerstone of defending the cause of our people, preserving its gains, and restoring and building its independent federal state. From the first moment of establishing the STC, we have adopted the approach of dialogue as a civilized value to overcome differences and unify the national ranks.

The result of years of dialogue with all the forces of the South was the holding of the “Southern Consultative Meeting” in the capital, Aden, for the period from May 4 to 8, 2023, with the broad participation of national elites from various political, cultural, and social backgrounds throughout the land of the South, where they went through a unique democratic experience. They recorded, in a majestic scene, a state of national consensus and alignment, represented by the approval of the “Southern National Charter.” As a ruling reference for building man, the homeland, and the state.

In our desire to consolidate these successes, we affirm the continuation of the efforts of the Southern National Dialogue, as our hearts will remain wide open and our hands will be extended to all the forces of our southern people with their various orientations.

Ladies and gentlemen:
We have begun to translate the outcomes of the consultative meeting into practical reality from the moment its outcomes were announced by implementing a comprehensive restructuring process for the STC to enhance the national presence and representation of all segments of our people, and your presence today in this blessed gathering is only a real embodiment of that approach that we have chosen together. We will continue to proceed with the tasks of this stage and assume national responsibilities side by side.

Our efforts to restructure and develop the structure and systems of the institutional work of the STC will not depend on its higher bodies, but we attach particular importance to the development and modernization of the local leadership bodies of the council in the governorates and districts to contribute to enhancing their role and becoming more effective and connected with the masses.

We look forward to bringing about a qualitative shift in the performance, effectiveness, and integration of the council’s bodies at all levels. The performance of all will be monitored and evaluated, and we will not hesitate to hold accountable all those who fail to fulfill their national responsibilities.

All present:
We highly salute our valiant southern armed forces, which have proven their courage in defending the neutrality of the homeland and preserving its gains with their remarkable victories in the battles to counter the Houthi invasion, combat terrorism, strike its hideouts, and pursue its elements. Epics of heroism and redemption are projected on various fronts.

From this point of view, we have begun to rebuild and re-organize the structures of our armed and security forces, coordinate their operations and develop their performance, and raise the capabilities of their personnel on a solid military base and a well-established national doctrine that protects sovereignty, preserves the security of citizens, safeguards their rights, and performs its national tasks efficiently and responsibly.

To achieve this, we worked to support and encourage the reopening of military and security qualification and training institutions in Hadramaut and Aden after decades of their closure, the destruction of their facilities, and the confiscation of their assets. We will continue to build and modernize our southern armed forces in their various land, sea, and air sectors until they regain their leading role in securing the South and contribute actively with our official brothers and friends in securing international navigation, combating terrorism, piracy, illegal immigration, and cross-border smuggling.

Ladies Gentlemen:
Our young people and our young girls are the mainstays of the future. We look forward to their contributions and their active role in building institutions and establishing the foundations of development and stability. We have been keen to support young people and women and take their hands to translate this into reality. We have directed the competent authorities in the council, the government, and local authorities to prepare and implement national programs to empower youth and women in all decision-making circles.

I cannot fail to emphasize that justice for those affected by the wars of 1994 and 2015 and the policies of forced deportation and laying off after 1994 are at the forefront of our concerns. The conditions of some of them have been settled, and we will continue to work to settle and compensate all those deported and affected, and to reconstruct and recover all rights and private and public property that have been seized, looted, or destroyed since the summer of 1994.

Distinguished attendees:

Since our mandate on May 4, 2017, we have been keen to work with dedication and sincerity, as we intensified our communications to enhance the presence and representation of the cause of our people internationally. We were able to put it—with Allah’s help and success, and then with the support of our people—in regional and international decision-making circles, and everyone today realizes the centrality of the issue of the people of the South and its decisive role as a key to ending the conflict and bringing about peace in the region.

Therefore, the final statement of the Riyadh consultations came to confirm the commitment of the political forces to develop a special negotiating framework for the issue of the people of the South in the negotiations of the political process.

Verily, we will continue efforts to promote political performance by intensifying our active political movements and working to enhance presence both at the internal and external levels, to keep pace with the political process, maximize the gains of our people, and achieve triumph for them by taking away their “inalienable” right to self-determination and restoring and building their state.

Sisters Brothers:
We applaud the efforts of the well-educated (pen holders) and the platforms of thought, scientific, religious, media, cultural, and legal enlightenment, who are bridging a gap no less important than the military conflict fronts against the policies of ignorance, the platforms of extremism, and the media campaigns hostile to falsifying facts, disinformation, and intimidation. We stress paying greater attention and support to building and developing employees and institutions, education curricula, media programmes, and platforms for thought and national education, with their various tools and means, in keeping with developments in the work environment.

I also salute the efforts of the southern community in diaspora countries to shoulder the cause of our people and represent it internationally. The southern community is distinguished by its large presence in a number of countries around the world, its competence, and the diversity of its experiences. Therefore, we stress the preparation of a strategy to benefit from national capital and southern competencies both at home and abroad, to transfer and localize pioneering experiences, and to support sustainable development efforts and goals.

Sisters and Brothers:
The Houthi escalation operations in the Red Sea directly threaten the national and food security of the South, exacerbate the severity of the humanitarian and economic crisis and its repercussions, and disrupt maritime navigation and international trade lanes in the Gulf of Aden, Bab al-Mandeb, and the Red Sea. This was preceded by their practices of restrictions, blockades, and preventing ships from entering our ports for more than a year, which created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Thus, the Houthis confirm their obstructive approach to all efforts to cease the war and bring about peace, and any proposals to resolve the crisis without ending the Houthi escalation will not end the conflict but rather drain the political process of its essence.

As we renew the STC’s emphasis on the negotiating approach to resolving political conflicts, supporting all efforts made for a ceasefire, and initiating a comprehensive political process to reach a just and lasting solution in the South and Yemen, we reaffirm at the same time that any tendency to fragment the political process or select its priorities constitutes a violation of the principle of justice and inclusion, which undermines efforts to bring about the desired peace.

Accordingly, we call on the regional and international community to deal with the complexities of the crisis from the standpoint of historical responsibility, which necessitates working to achieve a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace through sequential, interconnected, chronic, and transitional measures. A peace that does not invoke the prevailing culture and does not perpetuate the painful experiences of the past, which resulted in a series of wars and cost high prices, the price of which everyone is still paying to this day.

While we affirm that there is no retreating from restoring and building the federal state of the South, we at the same time renew our emphasis on continuing to support and back the forces of the North according to their options to resist the Iranian Houthi project.

Sisters and Brothers:
From this place, on behalf of our people of the South, I send packages of thanks and gratitude to the leadership and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and all the leadership and peoples of the Arab coalition countries for their efforts in providing humanitarian, development, and military support. After Allah, the Almighty, they were credited with supporting our armed forces to liberate the South from the Houthi militia, combat terrorism, and lead peace efforts.

Our people will remain loyal and grateful to whoever supported or stood by them to overcome the crisis. They will also not hesitate to perform their role to enhance regional peace and security, based on its pivotal location, which qualifies to form a cordon and security belt for the Gulf states and the Arabian Peninsula in its southwestern corner.

Distinguished attendees:
We call on the United States of America, the United Nations, and all the international community to assume their historic responsibility in working to achieve a ceasefire, end the suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, protect human rights, and enforce international humanitarian law. Ignoring the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza exposes the United States to the risk of losing the credibility of its obligations to protect and promote human rights at the international level.

The international community has become required to take urgent action to save the people of Gaza, intensify humanitarian relief efforts, and work to bring about peace to the region by implementing the two-state solution, in accordance with the initiative of the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may Allah have mercy on him, which represents the actual solution and the real basis for ensuring an end to the conflict and a solution to the Palestinian issue. And seeking to enhance regional peace, security, and stability as per the Abraham Accord, as a gateway to a comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.

Ladies and gentlemen:
The ultimate sacrifices of the martyrs, the wounded, and the freedom fighters of our southern people will remain a beacon that illuminates our path and strengthens the resolve of our people and their national struggle towards achieving their aspirations. Our people will immortalize the exploits of the martyrs and freedom fighters and their positions of sacrifice, solidarity, and redemption to remain a beacon of inspiration for successive generations that strengthens national identity and belonging and revives the values of loyalty to the pioneers of the southern national struggle, resistance, and liberation who devoted themselves to serving our people and protecting their national interests and gains.

All the best and Peace, mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you,