Saudi Arabia says UAE helped Yemeni separatist leader flee as crisis deepens

Riyadh says Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, was helped to flee Yemen

Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates of smuggling a UAE-backed separatist leader out of Yemen after he failed to turn up for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi had fled the port city of Aden for Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision, deepening a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The Saudis said al-Zubaidi travelled first by boat to the Emirati-owned port of Berbera in Somaliland, before boarding an aircraft to Mogadishu that was later tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

Sources in al-Zubaidi’s Southern Transitional Council did not dispute the fact of his escape.