ADEN, Yemen, April 26 -- Forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Sunday declared their full control over all sovereign state institutions in Yemen's southern port city of Aden.
In a press statement, the STC's forces announced that they have taken control of the state vital institutions in Aden, including the city's sole airport, the central bank, ministries, oil refinery, and the seaports.
Heavy forces backed by armored vehicles were seen deployed around the headquarters of Yemen's Central Bank (YCB) in and near the city's sole airport as well as the seaport.
Taking control over the vital state institutions in Aden was part of implementing the directions of the STC's political leadership, according to the forces' statement.
Earlier in the day, the Aden-based STC declared a state of emergency and said it would begin in self-governing the country's southern port city of Aden and other key neighboring southern provinces under its control.
The STC's statement also included declaring a state of emergency in Aden and all other neighboring southern provinces as of Saturday midnight.
The STC assigned its own economic, legal, military, and security committees to manage the state institutions based in all the country's southern provinces.
It also stated that "the decision to control and self-govern the country's southern provinces came in light of the failure, mismanagement and rampant corruption practiced by the Yemeni government, which practiced the policy of subjugation and starvation of the people."
The STC's security units in Aden called on all citizens to cooperate with them in maintaining security and stability in Aden and not spreading rumors.
Meanwhile, Yemen's government based in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh issued an immediate response to the STC's announcement saying it would have catastrophic consequences for the power-sharing deal signed in last November.
The country's Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hadhrami said in a statement posted on Twitter that the STC's announcement is "a resumption of its armed insurgency... and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement."
The Yemeni minister said that "the so-called transitional council will bear alone the dangerous and catastrophic consequences for such an announcement."
Last year, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and the Yemeni government to hold reconciliation talks, which succeeded in reaching a deal to form a new technocrat cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.
But numerous obstacles prevented the implementation of the deal such as forming a new government and achieving permanent stability in southern Yemen.
The deal also included the return of the exiled Yemeni government to Aden and the unification of all military units under the authority of the country's Interior and Defense Ministries.
The Saudi-brokered deal excluded the Iranian-backed Houthis who are still controlling the capital Sanaa and other northern provinces of the war-torn Arab country.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2017 when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern areas including Sanaa.