Riyadh Agreement Yemen

The Riyadh Agreement was signed on 5 November 2019 in the Saudi capital between the internationally recognised Yemeni government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a UAE-backed separatist body seeking independence for South Yemen. The deal was brokered by Saudi Arabia after fighting broke out in August 2019 in Aden, where STC forces seized the interim capital from government troops, exposing a serious rift inside the anti-Houthi coalition.

The agreement had political, military, and economic tracks. Politically, it called for forming a new cabinet of 24 ministers split equally between northern and southern representatives, with the STC included in government for the first time. Militarily, it required all forces in Aden and surrounding southern governorates to be placed under the authority of the Ministries of Defence and Interior, and for heavy weapons to be withdrawn from cities. Economically, it tasked the government with returning to Aden and resuming functions including paying salaries and stabilising the central bank.

Implementation stalled almost immediately. The military annexes — particularly the integration of STC-aligned units such as the Security Belt Forces — were repeatedly missed. In April 2020 the STC declared "self-administration" in the south, effectively suspending the deal, before reversing course in July 2020 under Saudi pressure. A new power-sharing government was finally announced in December 2020, though its swearing-in ceremony in Aden was hit by a deadly attack on 30 December 2020.

The Riyadh Agreement remains a foundational reference point for intra-anti-Houthi politics. Its logic was carried forward into the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) established in April 2022, which formally incorporated the STC leader Aidarus al-Zoubaidi alongside Hadi's successor Rashad al-Alimi. Analysts note the agreement managed conflict between coalition partners without resolving the underlying north–south question, leaving the political future of southern Yemen unsettled.