Yemen's southern separatists on Wednesday abandoned their declaration of self-rule and pledged to implement a stalled peace deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, EDNews.net reports citing Deutsche Welle.

"We have achieved our goals," Nizar Haitham, spokesperson for the separatists' Southern Transitional Council (STC) announced on Twitter. "We affirm the continuation and deepening of our strategic partnership with the Arab coalition."

The power-sharing deal, known as the Riyadh Agreement, was signed in the Saudi capital last fall. It was intended to end a long-running rivalry between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the United Arab Emirate-backed southern separatists.

But the pact broke down when the STC announced self-governance in April, seizing the southern port city and Yemen's working capital, Aden. They accused the government of multiple failings and "conspiring" against those in the south.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both Sunni states, have partnered with each other during the Yemen war to fight Iran-allied Shiite Houthi rebels, who in 2014 took control of northern Yemen.