(Bloomberg) -- Yemen’s Saudi-backed government reiterated its demand that the United Arab Emirates halt its support for armed southern separatists after clashes between the two spread on Tuesday.

“We reject the continuation of the U.A.E.’s financial and military support to the forces of the outlawed Southern Transitional Council and renew our demand for its full and immediate stop,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The latest flareup comes as Riyadh prepares to host talks between the nominal allies in an effort to refocus their joint efforts on confronting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control Yemen’s capital and swaths of territory.

Fighting erupted between forces controlled by the STC and the internationally-recognized administration of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province in Yemen’s south, and nearby, local media and residents said, with the separatists seizing a military camp.

It followed intense clashes this month in the port city of Aden, where the Hadi government is based.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Dubai at mhatem1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, Abbas Al Lawati, Mark Williams

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.