ADEN: Southern separatists in Yemen have called for huge demonstrations today to demand secession, aiming to benefit from the political chaos in Sana’a after the capital’s takeover by Shia rebels.
Hardliners in the Southern Movement called for protests in Aden, the capital of former South Yemen, and in Mukalla, provincial capital of Hadramawt in the southeast.
The chosen date, October 14, marks the 51st anniversary of the south’s revolt against British colonial rule. The aim is to “send one last message to the northerners that we are more determined than ever to build an independent state,” said Abdullah Al Jifri, leader of a southern faction.
The head of the League of Southerners, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, called for a large turnout at the demonstrations.
“The people of the south are marching to Aden from all provinces because they realise that the ongoing dispute (in the north) provides the last chance to cap years of struggle for the south’s independence,” said Khalid Al Kathiri, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Southern Movement.
One southern protester was shot dead and four others were wounded on August 28 when police opened fire at a demonstration by separatists in the port city of Aden. The south was independent between the end of British colonial rule in 1967 and its union with the north in 1990.
A secession attempt four years later sparked a brief but bloody civil war that ended with northern forces occupying the region.
The separatists rejected plans unveiled in February for a six-unit federation in which two regions are planned for the south as part of a political transition.
Yemen has been wracked by political turmoil since a 2011 uprising forced veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from office, with rebels and militants battling to exploit a power vacuum. Shia rebels based in northern Yemen, known as Huthis from the name of their leading family, stormed into Sana’a on September 21.AFP
