Final Statement, Decrees and Recommendations Issued in 6th Session of STC's Assembly Held in Hadramout Governorate

The National Assembly of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) held its sixth session during the period May 21–22, 2023, in Hadramout governorate, the city of Al-Mukalla. The opening session was presided over by President Aidarous bin Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the STC and Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), while the closed sessions were chaired by the Vice President of the STC and Chairman of the National Assembly, Major General Ahmed Saeed bin Brik, under the slogan "To strengthen the national partnership amongst political and societal forces and national figureheads to restore and build the independent federal state of the South". A number of southern political, administrative, and societal leaders, government officials, figureheads, national personalities, local leaders, security officers, and military commanders participated in the opening session, in addition to a number of pioneers of thought, culture, writers, journalists, and media professionals.

Furthermore, the Assembly's session was characterized by enthusiasm and dynamism in a brilliant atmosphere of security and stability in the city of Al-Mukalla under the supervision of Mr. Mabkhout Mubarak Ben Madhi, the governor of Hadramout Governorate, the distinguished role performed by the security services and the Hadrami elite, and the good official and popular reception and hospitality displayed by the various segments of the people of Hadramout Governorate.

Noteworyhy, the convening session of the National Assembly held for the second time in the city of Al-Mukalla, the downtown of Hadramout, highlights the importance that the STC attaches to Hadramout Governorate, and it is an affirmation of the great importance that Hadramout represents in the project of the South, due to its historical and cultural heritage, and its competencies capable of effective contributions in shaping the future of generations, and expresses respect for the specificities and local identities of all regions and to preserve within the framework of the all comprehensive national identity and a projection of the STC's understanding and striving to fulfil the legitimate demands of the people of Hadramout with high interest in managing their affairs and resources within the framework of the independent, federal, fully sovereign state of the South and its full belief in the failure of centralization that has proven such regime has passed away, and today we live in the light of the experiences of successful decentralized composite states (federalism), which have proven success in many countries of the world, as it is the guarantee of preserving privacy, pluralism and diversity, and is capable of developing the spirit of creativity and competition as a motive of development and progress, and that national partnership is a major issue in managing the South today and tomorrow, and the process of restructuring the STC is an indication of forging ahead towards a true national partnership, development and improvement of the performance of its various bodies. Moreover, it gives special attention to Hadramout governorate and the rest of the governorates of the South as per the criteria of area and population on the basis of which the National Assembly was formed.

What distinguishes the sixth session of the National Assembly is that it comes in light of the southern national consensus that emanated from the Southern National Dialogue and the southerners’ possession of a Southern National Charter, which represents a new social contract. This consensus, which aims to meet the challenges facing our people in their daily living and public service, the security and stability of the region, sustainable development in various fields, and strengthening the southern cohesiveness that does not target or antagonize anyone at all, and we seek cooperation and coordination with our Yemeni brothers, and we do not have any enmity towards them as long as they do not oppose us and do not attack us, and we respect their choices as long as they respect ours, and we are fully prepared to support regional and state endeavors to bring peace to the the region and to engage in the political process and solve the cause of the people of the South according to a special framework with the aim of restoring their independent and fully sovereign state within the borders before May 22, 1990 and under the patronage of the United Nations, and we express our gratitude to our brothers in the Arab Coalition and the Cooperation Council of the Arab Gulf States, in the forefront of which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the support they have given to our people and for maintaining the security and stability of the entire region. We also extend our sincere thanks to the United Arab Emirates and to the wiseman of Arabs, the late Sheikh Zayed, and similarly, we offer our thanks to the President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, for the generous and incessant support he has been giving and providing to our people. That noble, fraternal, and sincere stand with our people will definitely remain engraved in the memory of our future generations, and it is a debt on our shoulders.

Noteworthy, After extensive discussions on what was included in the agenda of the session, the following decrees and recommendations were taken:

The National Assembly hails the masses of our people in Hadramaut governorate for being mobilized to receive the leadership of the STC, members of the National Assembly, and honorable guests from various governorates of the South. Moreover, it praises the local authorities, the local leadership of the STC, the political and societal components, the southern armed forces, the security services, and the Hadrami elite for the highly organized official reception, the good hospitality that the participants in the sixth session of the Assembly received, and the intimacy they felt among our great people in Hadramout governorate.

In view of what was delivered in the speeches of President Aidarous bin Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the STC and Vice-Chairman of the PLC, and Major General Ahmed Saeed bin Brik, Vice-President of the STC and Chairman of the Assembly, the session considers these two papers as basic documents of the session.

The sixth session of the STC's Assembly approves the minutes of its fifth session, held from June 21–22, 2022.

The session, too, approved the report of the administrative body between the fifth and sixth sessions, taking into account the remarks thereon.

The Assembly supports the decrees of the President of the STC, the Supreme Commander of the Southern Armed Forces, regarding the amendment of certain articles in the Statute of the STC and the internal regulations of the various bodies that were built on the basis of that amendment and as a complement and development of what emerged from the experience of the past years of working with the previous regulations.

The National Assembly shall approve its internal regulations, taking into account the remarks made thereon, provided that they are submitted to the President of the STC to issue a decree through him and work to restructure the National Assembly in accordance with these regulations.

The National Assembly of the STC honours the outcomes of the Southern National Dialogue issued by the consultative meeting of political and societal forces and national figureheads, which are:

The Southern National Charter

The Orientations of the Political Visions of the Current Phase

The orientation and fundamentals of building the upcoming federal state of the South

Foundations and disciplines of the upcoming political negotiation

The final statement of the southern national consultative meeting of the southern political parties, societal components, and forces

The leadership of the STC and the southern national dialogue team recommend continuing the dialogue process so that it becomes a way of life to address problems, expand consensus and southern partnership, and not exclude anyone.

Issuing a general amnesty for all southerners who participated in the previous inter-events and reassuring everyone inside and outside the country to return to their southern homeland with all pride and welcome.

Completion of the national dialogue project with the rest of the social and political components and southern personalities informing them of the results of the consultative meeting to find a political approach with all political and civil components and cultural and intellectual expressions to serve the national action.

The people of the South were able to manage their affairs in various fields and adjust relations with the partners of the political process at the current stage in a way that served to reconstruct the crippled state institutions in the governorates of the South by reviewing the partnership with the power-sharing government so that southerners could manage the affairs of the governorates of the South.

Accelerating the restructuring and reorganization of the southern military and security forces by absorbing the forcibly deported soldiers and the southern resistance and integrating them with the new forces, with the need to take into account the national dimension

Completion of military and security control over all the southern lands by expelling the remnants of the Yemeni forces that militarily invaded the South.

Working with the Defense and Interior Command to reopen the military, police, and aviation colleges and organize the enrollment of southern youth in them.

Stimulating southern capital and empowering it in various economic fields

Controlling demographic change, counting the displaced, and working with international organizations to deal with cases of displacement.

Translating what was stated in the National Charter as a basis for the draft constitution of the aspired federal state of the South

The National Assembly recommends the political leadership of the STC take the utmost care of the families of the martyrs, pay attention to the wounded, follow up on the release of prisoners, and commend with honour all their heroic sacrifices.