Yemen's internationally recognized government said the decision by the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Yemen to establish self-rule in the regions under their control would have "catastrophic consequences" for a November peace deal.
Under the deal to end the power struggle in south Yemen agreed in Riyadh, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and other regions in the south were supposed to join a new national cabinet and place all forces under control of the internationally recognized government.
"The announcement by the so-called transitional council of its intention to establish a southern administration is a resumption of its armed insurgency… and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement," Yemen's Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hadhrami said in a statement posted by the ministry on Twitter.
"The so-called transitional council will bear alone the dangerous and catastrophic consequences for such an announcement," the statement added.
Reuters witnesses reported heavy security deployment of STC armed forces in Aden, the interim capital of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's internationally recognized government which was ousted from the capital Sanaa in 2014 by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Emergency rules were also announced in the city of Aden and all the southern governorates, the statement added.
The Southern Transitional Council announced a self-administration rule in the south, as of midnight Saturday, a statement by the STC said early on Sunday.
The STC is part of the Sunni Muslim alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore power to Hadi's government. But the separatists, who had sought self-rule in the south, turned on the government in August and seized its interim seat of Aden.
