The Final Statement Issued by the STC House of Commons Convention

Based on Presidential decree No. (48) of the year 2023, issued by President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zoubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), regarding the call for a meeting of the House of Commons (HC) of the STC to be held on January 2, 2024, the capital Aden witnessed, on January 2, 2024, the holding of the meeting of the House of Commons of the STC, chaired by President Aidarous Al-Zoubaidi, in the full presence of its bodies, and under the slogan (Strengthening Political Performance and Institutional Work Towards Restoring and Building the Independent Federal State of the South).

The convening of the House of Commons came after the STC completed its organizational construction and upgraded its institutional work as a political entity that leads the people of the South to complete national liberation, restore their sovereignty, and build their independent, fully sovereign federal state. The meeting includes the Presidium, the two legislative bodies (the National Assembly and the Council of Advisors), the senior executive leadership, and the heads of the auxiliary commissions of the Presidium. It is convened to discuss key strategic issues at the invitation of the President of the Council.

The convention is held today with the participation of all its bodies and with its full members, in light of important political developments, represented by the persistent local, regional, and international efforts towards ceasing the war and bringing about peace in the region, the dire economic and humanitarian crises that have burdened our people, the increasing escalation and violence by the Houthis, the threat to national security, and food for the South. The HC listened to a key and all-inclusive speech delivered by President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zoubaidi, which formed a framework for the positions of the STC and a working map for all its bodies.

The House of Commons stood before the topics on its agenda, and at the end of its convention, it approved the following:

1. The HC approved the espousing of the political and directive speech delivered by President Aidarous Al-Zoubaidi as a basic document of the meeting and a guiding framework for the HC’s work. It assigns all the commissions and central and local bodies of the STC to work on translating its contents into their working plans and embodying them in the reality of their dealings in a way that serves the supreme national interest of the people of the South.

2. The HC asserts its full commitment to the contents of the historic Aden Statement issued on May 4, 2017, and renews the national mandate of President Aidarous Al-Zoubaidi to lead and represent the people of the South and their national cause towards achieving their great national goals.

3. The HC gives its full commitment to preserving, strengthening, and directing the political, diplomatic, military, and security achievements fulfilled to preserve the unity of the South and its identity as land and people, defend it, and liberate what remains of it to achieve the aspirations of the people of the South.

4. The right of the people of the South to independence and sovereignty over their land and national resources is fixed—inalienable—and owned by the people of the South, and only they can decide on them as being inherited from successive generations over time. Therefore, it will never be eliminated by obsolescence or annulled by political errors, it derives its stability from the fixed truth on which human existence and survival depend. Thus, the HC confirms its compliance and adherence to the right of the people of the South to sovereignty over their land and resources, their right to independence, and to restore and build their independent federal state on its internationally recognized borders. The HC authorizes President Aidarous Al-Zoubaidi to take appropriate decisions to ensure the implementation of the will of the people of the South, embody their hopes and aspirations, and preserve and protect their sovereign rights.

5. The HC affirms the STC’s full commitment to the contents of the Southern National Charter and works to achieve the foundations, principles, and orientations contained therein, to strengthen the southern national alignment based on the deeply-rooted principle of the South for and by all its people.

6. The HC confirms the openness of the STC to all the southern political and social spectrum, its continued approach to constructive dialogue with all southern forces, personalities, and formations, and its belief in the partnership of all in drawing the features of the new federal state of the South, achieving national balance, justice in the distribution of power and wealth, and reparation for all victims of conflicts over the past six decades.

7- The HC reaffirms its support for all regional and international peace efforts, stressing the priority of developing a special negotiating framework for the cause of the people of the South in the negotiations of the political process to ensure the achievement of the desired peace, noting that any neglect or postponing of the issue of the people of the South will not lead to peace, as our people will not accept identification with any neglect of their cause and will not overdo their gains, ultimate sacrifices, and great national goals.

8. The HC salutes the courage and valor of our southern armed and security forces in defending the security, stability, and integrity of the homeland. The HC underscores that the southern armed forces will remain an impenetrable fence to protect the South and its people, secure national gains, combat terrorism and extremism, and underline their drilling, qualifying, and armament, strengthening their role in securing territorial waters and protecting international maritime navigation. It calls on all our people to coalesce around the southern armed forces and strengthen them, as they are the shield and impregnable fortress of the South, whose steadfastness, firmness, and greatness nullify the hatched plans and conspiracies of the enemies.

10. The HC highlights the completion of building state institutions, empowering qualified southern leaders and competencies, and working to combat corruption in all state institutions.

11. The HC appreciates the support of the official brothers in the Arab coalition for our people, their resistance, and their armed forces in the face of the hordes of Houthi invaders and affirms that the South and its aspired state will only be a factor of stability, integration, and integration with its Gulf and Arab extension and its regional and international surroundings, and the exchange of interests and benefits.

12. The HC affirms the openness of the STC and its full readiness for dialogue with the political forces opposed to the Houthi militia in the North, to reach approaches and understandings that enhance cooperation and joint work within the framework of mutual interests, responsibilities, and common concerns.

13. The HC calls for an immediate ceasefire and genocidal war on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, and calls for action to implement the two-state solution on the basis of the Arab Initiative and the Abraham Accord.