CAIRO: A bid by separatists funded by the United Arab Emirates to assert control over southern Yemen has reopened a dangerous new front in Yemen’s civil war and pushed it closer to fragmentation at a time when the coronavirus pandemic poses a growing threat.

The separatists recent declaration of self-rule over the key port city of Aden and other southern provinces also further pits Saudi Arabia and the UAE on opposing sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year. A separatist leader made the declaration from the UAE a clear sign of its backing for the move.

The two Gulf states had been partners in a coalition waging war against Iran-linked Houthi rebels who seized the northern part of Yemen in 2014.

The two allies have conflicting interests in the south, though, and are aligned with rival sides. The UAE backs the separatists, and Saudi Arabia sides with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, led by exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The intensifying split in the south could further impede the Saudis efforts to find a way out of the costly and seemingly unwinnable war against the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia has accelerated its exit strategy in recent months, including conducting back channel talks with the rebels. Last month, the Saudis declared a unilateral cease-fire, but it was rebuffed by the Houthis as a purported ploy, and fighting continued.

The UAE, meanwhile, is interested in securing shipping lanes along the Red Sea corridor and the crucial Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint off Yemen’s shoreline. The UAE is both a major oil exporter and home to DP World, a global shipping and logistics firm. By supporting Yemeni separatists, the UAE also ensures that the Saudi-backed Islah party the transnational Muslim Brotherhoods branch in Yemen wont grow too powerful. The UAE opposes Brotherhood affiliates throughout the Middle East.

Its becoming a conflict by proxy between the UAE and Saudis, said Fernando Carvajal, a former member of the UN Security Council Panel of Experts.

Yemen’s conflict has split the country along tribal, regional and political lines. It started with the Houthis taking Sanaa, the capital, in 2014. In the spring of 2015, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab states formed a coalition to battle the rebels and curb Irans influence in what turned into a regional proxy war.

Since then, more than 100,000 people fighters and civilians have been killed. Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition and Houthis ground fighting has displaced more than 3 million people and left millions of others unable to meet basic needs, pushing them to near-famine conditions.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020