President Al-Zubaidi Inaugurates Sixth Session of the National Assembly

President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), inaugurated today, Sunday, the work of the sixth session of the National Assembly of the STC in the presence of two vice presidents, Major General Faraj Al-Buhsni, Vice-Chairman of the PLC, and Major General Ahmed Saeed bin Brik, Chairman of the National Assembly.

At the opening of the work of the sixth session of the Assembly, the president delivered a speech, the main points of which were as follows:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 

All praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. May the praise of Allah and His peace be on Prophet Muhammad [PBUH], his family, and Companions. 

 O free, unrelenting, struggling ladies and gentlemen of all the southern spectrum: With immense pride,we extend our

Dear Mr. Faraj Salmeen Al-Buhsni,

Dear Mr. Ahmed Saeed bin Brik,

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Assembly, guests of honour, all attendees, each in his own name and esteemed title,

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

From the land of ancient history and  civilizations, from the beacon of thought and enlightenment and the source of wisdom and tolerance, from Hadramout, the strategic depth of the South, its identity, geography, history and civilization, in all periods and stages; past, present and future, I greet you with all respect, freedom, independence and dignity, and through proper channels, we extend our greetings to the people of the Coast, Valley and Desert of Hadramout in particular, and to all the people of the South both at home and abroad in general, who are following and putting great hopes on the convening of this session, and they are hopeful that what is both for us and for you is not only a duty but also a supreme goal.

All respected attendees,

It is an immense pleasure to share with you the inauguration of the activities of the sixth session of the National Assembly, from here, from Hadramout of blessings and pioneering in unrelenting struggle in the liberation revolution. We are all confident that this session, with the topics included in its agenda and indications of its spatio-temporality, will undoubtedly be a milestone in its outcomes and an extension of the historical achievement fulfilled by your representatives of southern components, forces, political parties, and civil society organizations in the consultative meeting that was recently hosted in the capital, Aden, and culminated in the signing of the Southern National Charter.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Indeed, the coincidence of holding this session with the sixth anniversary of founding the STC acquires exceptional importance, which turned this occasion into a starting point for a new phase of modernization and development in response to the requirements of the present and the necessity of the future and to embody the principles of partnership, competence, and injecting new young blood capable of giving and well-prepared to assume and shoulder the responsibility.

Today, you are standing before a historic national mission, in which you put your distinctive marks to shape the features of the future of your country, the modern federal state of the South, a state that guarantees and safeguards the rights of everyone despite their different political and geographical affiliations, establishes justice, protects the weak, and does justice to the oppressed, a state that preserves Hadhramaut’s pioneering position within a southern national partnership that neither excludes nor outcasts anyone.

From this standpoint, we hope that this session will be a station of fair evaluation and reviewing that will achieve a well-aspired development in line with the pioneering performance of the Assembly and its role as a legislative institution for the STC, which takes upon its shoulders the cause of the people of the South and expresses their sterling will, aspirations, and right to restore and build their independent state and live freely and proudly on their land from Almahra to Al-Mandab Strait.

All present, ladies and gentlemen,

The convening of the sixth session of the National Assembly comes while our southern people facing serious challenges and waiting for important entitlements in the path of our people's uncompromising struggle and their national cause, which calls for more cohesiveness, rapprochement, synergy, and national alignment, and upholding the national interests above all personal interest and consideration, and working in a team spirit, each from his position, to implement the outcomes of the consultative meeting, foremost among them the foundations and principles of the National Charter, which was an outgrowth of the ongoing Southern Dialogue, as a deeply-rooted principle, based on our absolute belief that the South is for all and will only be built by all its people.

Hence, from glorious and civilized Hadhramaut, we affirm what the Southern National Charter highlights: that the aspired state of the South is a federal, civil, democratic, independent, Arab, Islamic, and sovereign state, based on popular will, equal citizenship, the rule of law, and guaranteeing the right of governorates to have full authority over the management of its affairs and resources.

All respected attendees,

Adopting the free, prevailing popular sterling will as a reference for the legitimacy of every authority or fateful decision and as a deceive rule for every dispute both at the national and local levels, in accordance with what was dictated in the National Charter, means that every southerner is a master in his homeland and on the land of his region, state, city, or area, and the people of every region are the ones who will manage the affairs of their region, and that the people of Hadramout, Shabwa, Almahra, Socotra, Abyan, Aden, Lahj, and Al-Dhalea, will together draw the features of the future of the South out of their own free will without tutelage or coercion.

Ladies and gentlemen, present,

Verily, from the beginning, we have been keen to adopt dialogue as a principle, method, and path towards this great national alignment whose greatness we live today, to embody a true national partnership that establishes a modern state of the South where order, law, equality, justice, and democracy prevail, a state that upholds the will and sacrifices of our people and respects the sovereignty of states and good neighbourliness, and an active partner with the international community in enhancing security and stability and combating terrorism in the entire region and the world.

And while we applaud all the living national forces that positively responded to the calls for dialogue and gathered under one roof and with one goal to draw the features of the future of our southern homeland and its aspired state, we affirm at the same time that our endeavors in dialogue and efforts to strengthen national alignment, preserve the gains of our people, and strengthen the pillars of building the state of the South will neither cease nor exclude anyone from crossing peacefully towards the safe future that we have drawn with our voices, pens, guns, and pure blood that has not and will never be forgotten or be absent from our minds.

Once again, we underscore that we will move forward in fulfilling the entitlements of our people in terms of strengthening the cohesiveness of the home front, modernizing and institutionalizing the STC to achieve a broader partnership for all forces of the southern spectrum, creating an organizational framework for national institutions that are characterized by the proper approach, transparency, and good performance, and in terms of assuming its national cause, expressing its demands, and protecting its interests to reach its hopes and aspirations.

O Free Strugglers, 

We follow with great interest all the endeavors made by the United Nations bodies and brotherly and friendly countries to end the war and achieve peace, and while we reaffirm our full support for all noble endeavors that guarantee a just and sustainable peace in our country and the entire region, we remind them at the same time that these efforts will unfortunately remain mere attempts, unless prioritizing the pivotal issues, at the forefront of which is addressing the cause of the people of the South, in a way that resolving its roots and fulfills the aspirations of our people and their right to restore the state of the South along its entire internationally recognized borders until May 21, 1990. We affirm that our people are the masters of their land and the owners of their decisions and will never allow the passage of any incomplete settlements that do not meet their aspirations or express their sterling will, and this is our role that we will not hesitate to fulfill under any circumstances.

All attendees..

We are aware of the difficult economic conditions that our country is passing through as a major challenge that we must all work to overcome since the political entitlement requires institutional, political, security, military, economic, and social preparation, and this is what we have consistently been doing based on the sterling will of our people and their legendary steadfastness. In circumstances that were darker than they are today, we reaffirm pledge of the truthful to the faithful, and the pledge of a man of his word to a man that we are on the promise and that the bright future is close with God’s help and will, then with the solidarity and rapprochement of our people around the supreme goal and fundamentalized national project, and at the forefront of that are the heroes of our valiant armed southern forces, who made the ultimate exemplifying models of heroism, ultimate sacrifice, and redemption in the battlefields, to secure the South and protect its land, and I can only but salutely recommed them from this position and strengthen their hands, and tell them that the heroic roles they perform will be written in letters of light in history, and will be dictated in the educational curricula to educate future generations on the national faith that our brave heroes have been embodying in a majestic scene, bearing the responsibility of protecting the people of the South and securing their public interests, and raising the flag of their homeland high along the beloved land of the South.

In conclusion, we wish your session all success and reach outcomes that strengthen southern cohesiveness and lay another brick in the fundamental course of building the aspired state of the South.

Peace, mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you, and I wish you all the best.