President Al-Zubaidi: We support the efforts of the National Assembly and activating its oversight role

The President of the Southern Transitional Council, Supreme Commander of the Southern Armed Forces, President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, and Major General Ahmed Saeed bin Brik, Chairman of the National Assembly, inaugurated the fourth session of the National Assembly under the slogan "Completing the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement is our demand, and restoring the state is our goal," which is held in the capital, Aden, in the period 16 – 17 of the June.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by members of the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council, and heads and members of the National Assembly’s committees, as well as heads of the General Secretariat’s departments, in addition to social and political figures, military and security leaders, and media professionals, in which the President Aidarous Al-Zubaidi delivered a speech praising the efforts of the National Assembly since its founding.

President Al-Zubaidi affirmed his full support for the efforts of the National Assembly, to ensure the activation of its oversight role in all institutions of the South.

President Al-Zubaidi also praised the role of the Coalition and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its serious follow-up to the implementation of the remaining provisions of the Riyadh Agreement.

Here is the speech of President Al-Zubaidi:

"Chairman of the Southern National Assembly,

Members of the National Assembly of the Southern Transitional Council,

All who are present,

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

I am pleased to be with you today, to congratulate you on holding the fourth session of the National Assembly, and saluting your efforts and successes since the third session, I encourage you, and I am confident that you are the most capable of handling the responsibility, and carrying out your roles stipulated in the Council’s regulations and the founding documents of the National Assembly, hoping that this session will be a pivotal station to evaluate the activity of the National Assembly and its administrative body and to achieve a qualitative leap in its activity and its pioneering role as a legislative institution for the Southern Transitional Council, which bears upon itself the national cause of the people of the South, expressing their will, aspirations, and their right to self-determination, decent living on their homeland, and restoring and building their state on all of its lands with its borders before May 21, 1990.

The National Assembly represents the vital nerve of the Southern Transitional Council, as it includes the best strugglers, who we bet on their national role and active presence in all parts of the South, from Al-Mahra to Bab al-Mandab, and they should exert more efforts at the national and societal level, and express the demands of the people, and encourage them to integrate and activate the institutions of the southern state, as we are in a transitional period, from revolution to state stage, which is one of the most difficult in the peoples’ liberation paths.

 Your session is being held today and there are companions of ours, their seats are empty, and they are not with us in this session, but they are present in our consciences that shake for their memory, brothers and colleagues who left us due to martyrdom and sacrifice, they were honest and fulfilled their honesty, and they were by our side, behind us, and before us, military and political leaders who led the processions of eternity, may get mercy and forgiveness, and we pledge to them that we will not deviate from the southern liberation goal, their goal and the goal of all the honorable people of the South.

 The unity of the southern social fabric is the cornerstone in the course of the southern national community institutional building, therefore, do not be surprised by the hostile misleading media campaigns that try to strike the fabric of the South and undermine the great achievement of southern reconciliation and tolerance, a historical achievement that is reinforced by behavior and practice and has become a national principle that is not negotiable.

Yes, we will continue to be tolerant to each other and extend our hands to every southerner, we have succeeded in this despite the difficulties, and we have found that forgiveness is an attribute of men, and that fraternal tolerance, regardless of the wounds, is a religious, moral and humanitarian principle, and that the South will only be for each and all of its sons and daughters.

 The fourth session of the National Assembly is being held and our southern people are in a difficult stage as a result of the enmity of enemies and their continued use of various methods of war, and the practice of systematic collective punishment that has reached the point of targeting their livelihood and depriving them of basic services, and trying to reproduce the control and influence of the old renewed occupation forces by seeking to divert the struggle of our people, and forcing them to withdraw from their national project, or to distract them from their national cause with other files.

However, the awareness of our southern people and their realization of the conspiracies being hatched against them has thwarted all the bets of their enemies, and proved that they are best able to impose their choices and preserve their national gains through the stability of their position, and the endurance and confrontation of the difficulties and troubles that are being hatched against them, as they faces the war of services, they stands behind their political leadership, which they delegated to lead their march towards restoring and building the independent federal state of the South.

And from the position of leadership and responsibility that our people have given us, we have made efforts during the past years since the establishment of the Southern Transitional Council, and we are still making all efforts, and dedicating all available possibilities to advance the cause of our people and enhance their position on the field, and politically, to represent their aspirations, and to deliver their voice to all regional and international forums, and we have achieved and extracted gains that put the issue of the people of the South at the forefront of priorities and imposed it as a reality on the ground that cannot be bypassed.

 This session of yours, takes place in light of the great achievements made for the people of the South, stained with the blood of the heroic martyrs, and with the efforts of all the fighters of the South, led by the heroes of the Southern Armed Forces, to whom we salute their inspirations and their hands are holding the trigger in positions of honor and heroism in the mountains and valleys, on the fronts of confronting the Houthi invasion, protecting the South, and stabilizing security and stability in it, and to contribute within the framework of our permanent strategic partnership with the Arab coalition countries to serve the security of the region and protect it from all threats, and to ensure the achievement of the national goal of the people of the South.

Those military and security achievements that were crowned politically and whose contents were reflected in the Riyadh Agreement, in which we engaged in dialogues and negotiations for a year and more, under the generous sponsorship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the active participation of the United Arab Emirates, where the leadership of the Arab coalition is still making great efforts until now to implement the rest of the terms of that agreement.

 Our battle with terrorism is an existential battle since the invaders, who advocate terrorism, extremism and misguided thought, trampled on the pure land of the South in the summer of 1994, based on their fatwas that wanted to make the land of the South an alternative home for terrorist groups to break the will of the people of the South, and in order to threaten international peace and security, those terrorist groups that wreaked havoc by practicing ideological intimidation, changing educational curricula, creating extremist outposts, and carrying out assassinations, bombings and mass killings.

We find it an occasion to renew and emphasize the move forward in fighting terrorist and extremist groups, even securing and protecting the South from this scourge, and although we face terrorism with limited capabilities and with individual efforts in defense of our national nations, the national security of the region, and international peace and security, we will not hesitate to continue our battle against terrorism until its eradication, and drying up of its sources.

This session comes in light of the acceleration of events at the regional and international levels, where the sponsors of the political process mobilize their efforts with the support of the international community to try to put an end to this war and find a just political settlement, however, the arrogance and intransigence of the Houthis was and still is an obstacle to all peace endeavors and all previous and recent political initiatives.

We have defined our early and supportive position for peace and stability, and rejecting the persistence of any threats to the security of the region, as we are active partners on the ground, and we have announced this to the international community that we are still supporting a comprehensive and genuine political process that reflects the reality of the parties on the ground, and discusses the causes and roots of the crisis, and at the forefront of that is ensuring the presence of the Southern Transitional Council as a representative of the cause of the people of the South in all stages of the political process sponsored by the United Nations.

In this situation, I cannot but affirm our full support for you in all your national tasks, and we will always be by your side, on the covenant we made since the first day.

Mercy for the martyrs, healing for the wounded, freedom for the prisoners and detainees, and victory for our great southern people

Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you"