A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation travelled to Aden on Thursday to discuss demands for a pullout of southern separatists from positions they captured in Yemen's interim capital, government and separatist sources said.
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 Security Belt, said "we will hold talks with them", without giving details.
The visit comes after four days of deadly clashes last week in the southern port city.
The forces backing the STC, which seeks an independent South Yemen, seized the presidential palace in Aden on Saturday after clashes with government loyalists.
The clashes saw Security Belt forces seize control of five barracks, the presidential palace and the prime minister's office.
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".
Without commenting on a possible pullout, it said the STC shared the coalition's objective of "fighting against Iranian expansionism in the region".
But Yemen's legitimate government on Wednesday ruled out talks in Saudi Arabia with the separatists, as proposed by Riyadh, until they withdraw from positions they seized in Aden.
The Yemeni embassy in Washington, quoting the foreign ministry, has welcomed what it called the Saudi initiative to address the "coup" in Aden.
But, it said in a tweet, that separatists "must first commit to total withdrawal from areas forcibly seized by STC in past few days before start of any talks".
