A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation travelled to Aden on Thursday to discuss demands for a pullout of UAE-backed southern separatists from positions they captured in Yemen's interim capital, government and separatist sources said.
The visit comes after deadly clashes last week in the southern port city that reflected a rift between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the main partners in a pro-government coalition fighting Iran-aligned Shiite Huthi rebels.
It also coincided with protests in Aden in favour of independence. The delegation's mission was "to discuss the issue of the withdrawal of southern Security Belt forces from government camps and positions they seized last week", a source in President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government told AFP.
A source from the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is backed by the UAE-trained Security Belt, said "we will hold talks with them", without giving details.
The Saudi-led coalition condemned the takeover and urged the Security Belt to pull out from positions it captured, while calling for peace talks. The STC has accepted the call for peace talks and its chairman Aidarus al-Zubaidi said on Sunday that the separatists were ready "to work responsibly with... Saudi Arabia in managing this crisis".