President Al-Zubaidi Inaugurates Consultative Meeting of Southern Political Components

 President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), and Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), inaugurated on Thursday the work of the consultative meeting of the southern political components and parties and civil society organizations, which is scheduled to continue from 4 to 7 May, 2023, in the capital, Aden, under the slogan "For a New South that Embodies the aspirations of the people of the South for independence and the restoration of the independent federal state of the South."

President Al-Zubaidi delivered a speech in which he welcomed all those present from the various southern political components and parties, in particular Major General Mahmoud Al-Subaihi, the former Minister of Defense, pointing out that the inauguration of this meeting from the capital of the South, Aden, is a new era of struggle in which the participants will put another brick in the construction of enhancing the unity of the southern ranks to confirm that dialogue is a civilized means to resolve issues and end political differences.

President al-Zubaidi pointed out that the meeting coincides with the sixth anniversary of the historic Aden Declaration, and it can be considered a crystal clear embodiment of everyone's commitment to what was expressed by the popular sterling will of the southerners on the historic day of establishing a political entity to manage the affairs of the South and achieve the goal of restoring the state on the basis of the South for and by all its people.

President Al-Zubaidi expressed his appreciation for the major efforts made by the Southern National Dialogue Team (SNDT) both at home and abroad, through the series of long and intensive meetings and discussions with the various southern national components that melted the ice and achieved consensus on most issues and topics, affirming that the STC, since its establishment, has pursued and committed to dialogue and will definitely continue to do so, to create a true partnership with all political forces and components to defend the rights of the southern people and protect their rights.

President Al-Zubaidi emphasized that the STC worked to develop, modernize, and upgrade the organizational structure and institutional building, expand the STC's bodies, and involve everyone in national action to establish a solid institutional structure to fulfill the goals of our southern people, manage their affairs, and achieve their aspirations.

Dr. Saleh Al-Hajj, head of the internal southern national dialogue team (ISNDT), indicated that the vision of President Aidarous Al-Zubaidi has put the ISNDT before the challenges of reality in the southern homeland through taking the historic national decision to launch the southern national dialogue two years ago with all the national components and forces in the land of the South or that were forced to stay outside the homeland, and many meetings were held both internally and externally. This culminated in the completion of the dialogue stations carried out by President Al-Zubaidi's decision to form two teams for the internal and external southern national dialogue.

Dr. Al-Hajj stressed that the dialogue team has been keen to involve everyone in this national mission and exerted its utmost effort with all the southern parties to be strongly presented in these days, and the response has appropriately reflected the keenness on the status of this great country of the South, as the number of delegates reached (270) participants from all forces of the South, pointing out that the dialogue team is still widely opening its heart to everyone with no exception for positive engagement with the national project for the people of the South and building a southern consensus and alignment. We hope that it will be crowned with success by everyone on the Southern National Pact.

Al-Hajj added that the entrusted national task is the responsibility of the selected elites from all the southern political parties, social forces, and components that meet at this difficult stage in the history of the struggle of our people, who sacrificed trains of martyrs, wounded, and detainees during the years of the southern movement and in all the turns that heavely threw their weight and increased the suffering of our people, referring that all these complications came to establish a new phase in facing the challenges and achieving the entitlements of the next stage.

The meeting, which was held with wide and broad participation from the various spectrums and political components of the people of the South both at home and abroad, began with verses from the Holy Quran, followed by the southern national anthem, and stood for a minute to tributedly read Al-Fatiha for the souls of the martyrs of the South. Further to displaying a theatrical sketch by a number of blooms of the South that expressed the importance of the culture of dialogue and defense of the cause of the South and the hopes and aspirations of its people represented in restoring the independent federal state.

In the second session of the first day of the consultative meeting, the documents for the meeting that will be discussed were distributed, and the mechanism for managing this meeting, which will last for four successive days, was reviewed.