Saudi Arabia has tended to seek the help of European pressure on the Emirates in Hadhramaut province, where the conflict is currently raging between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
According to Yemeni political sources, the Saudi ambassador to the “government” affiliated with the coalition, Mohammed Al Jaber, received representatives of the European Commission mission in Yemen, and ambassadors of 22 European Union countries to the pro-coalition government in Riyadh, with the continuation of meetings with the Hadhrami components for the second week in a row in Riyadh, to discuss the situation in Hadhramaut.
The sources affirmed that the political mobilization of European diplomats came at a Saudi request after Riyadh reached a dead end in its talks with the pro-UAE leaders with regard to the situation of Saudi Arabia in the Hadhramaut, after Saudi Arabia failed to extract any guarantees from the pro-Abu Dhabi components not to ignite battles in the districts of Wadi Hadhramaut, despite the concessions made by Saudi Arabia to appease the UAE by excluding the Islah party forces from the Wadi Hadhramaut.
The sources indicated that the ambassadors of the European Union discussed with the various Hadhrami components and the governor of Hadhramaut, Mabkhout bin Madhi, backed by the coalition, what is called “the future of the province within the framework of a political settlement to achieve peace in Yemen.”
According to the outcomes of the consultative meeting held on May 18 in the city of Seiyun, the Hadhrami components loyal to Saudi Arabia demand the whole local powers in the local security and military administration of oil resources independently of the central state of Yemen.
The UAE escalated the movement of its factions affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) towards Hadhramaut, after the political components in Hadhramaut refused to participate in the consultative meeting that was held during the first week of May, and appointed a member of the Saudi-formed Presidential Leadership Council for Hadhramaut, Faraj al-Bahsani, as Vice-President of the STC, which Saudi Arabia considered an Emirati conspiracy against its interests in the province.
The STC’s going to hold the sixth meeting of the so-called National Assembly in the city of Mukalla on May 21 angered the Saudi interests after the UAE sent nearly 200 military vehicles from Aden to the city under the pretext of securing the meeting without the help of the UAE-affiliated Hadhrami Elite factions
