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Yemenis hold mass rally in Aden for south separation

28 January 2013 19:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Thousands of pro-secession Yemenis staged mass rallies across the southern port city of Aden on Monday, demanding separation for southern regions after more than 20 years of unity, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

During the demonstrations that took place in a public square in Aden, capital of the formerly independent south, people called for south independence, chanting "No negotiations, No Dialogue. We are the decision makers."

Supporters of pro-secession Southern Movement attended the demonstrations, carrying flags of the former south state and photographs of former south leaders.

A secession leader told Xinhua anonymously that "We sent an appeal letter to the international community. The southern people are experiencing all sorts of repression."

Yemen's pro-secession Southern Movement and several other separatist factions have refused to participate in the upcoming national dialogue proposed by the central government in Sanaa.

The comprehensive national dialogue scheduled to begin soon is based on a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal under which former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after one-year-long unrest.

Government officials have called the exiled leaders of the Southern Movement to return to Yemen to take part in the national dialogue, but some separatist leaders place little faith and claim that security units will simply arrest them at the airport if they come back.

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the first president from southern Yemen since the country's two parts unified in 1990, pledged that he will address the problems by launching a responsible national dialogue within the framework of the constitutional institutions.

However, youth activists and politicians in the south dismissed Hadi's call, with many saying that it was just an empty gesture.