South Yemen is undergoing a new uprising, reports Nasser Arrabyee
* 02.03.2013
Yemen is witnessing a semi-war. The south is undergoing an uprising.
Killing, burning and road blockings are continuing despite efforts to
contain the situation. The south wants independence.
A total of 12 groups and movements, at top of which comes the supreme
council of peaceful Hirak for liberating the south, issued a statement on
Monday vowing to continue struggle until "northern occupation" is defeated
and the state of south is declared.
However, President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who flew to the south immediately
after the unprecedented uprising started, still plays down the violence and
chaos.
Hadi, who is originally from the south, said in a speech he delivered in
Aden on Monday, that the majority of southerners would go to the national
dialogue scheduled to start on 18 March and only a few would refuse it. This
is the first visit for Hadi to Aden since he was elected as president in
February 2012.
"There are a lot of forces who want the dialogue, and there are few who have
no interests in dialogue whether here or there in Beirut," said Hadi in
meeting with officials in the capital of the south, Aden, referring mainly
to the exiled top leader of the separatists, Ali Salem Al-Beidh, who
inspires his followers from the Lebanese capital Beirut.
President Hadi repeatedly accused Al-Beidh of receiving money and weapons
from Iran to foment violence in the south with the purpose of foiling the
dialogue and the whole political process, which is supported mainly by US
and Saudi Arabia.
However, there are 12 more groups and movements other than Al-Beidh group
who also refuse the dialogue and insist on independence.
"The dialogue and violence are like two parallel lines that never meet. This
call for dialogue is like the call of Israel to Palestinians for dialogue
while its troops kill and force people to leave their houses," said the
statement of the southern forces.
The southern forces called the international community to rescue them from
crimes of the occupation of the Arab Republic of Yemen, the name of northern
Yemen before the declaration of unity in 1990.
The current uprising started on 21 February when the semi-ruling Islamist
party clashed with separatists over the celebration of the day.
The Islamists wanted to celebrate the day of election of President Hadi, and
the separatists wanted to celebrate the day of refusing Hadi and his
election and they called it the day of karama (dignity).
So far, more than 25 separatists were killed and 120 injured according to
the statement of southern forces of Hirak issued on Monday. The Islamist
Islah Party, dominated by tribal, religious, and military leaders from the
north, insisted on holding its celebration rally in the same square of
separatists in Khor Maksar in Aden and this is how and why bloody clashes
started.
The separatists say that a lot of those who were clashing with them came
from the north.
"A lot of groups were brought from the Arab Republic of Yemen in
coordination with Islah, the Islamist party," said the statement of the
southern forces.
The president Hadi was not enthusiastic about celebration of his election
day in Aden after he received a lot of advice not to allow Islamists in fear
of clashes. But Hadi yielded to the pressure of the Islamist party Islah who
wanted to impose themselves by force in the south.
While clashes were happening on the first day of this uprising in Aden,
President Hadi was speaking in Sanaa: "We do not want to make this day an
occasion for celebrating every year although this day witnessed the first
ever process of peaceful transfer of power." This shows that Hadi himself
did not want that to happen but he could not stop the Islamists.
One day before the clashes that led to the uprising, the most important
leaders of separatist Hirak were arrested when their houses were stormed at
night. They include Kasem Askar, the secretary general of Hirak, loyal to
Al-Beidh.
The Aden-based official 14 October daily, said in its editorial that the
Islamist governor of Aden Wahid Rashid used his constitutional powers as
head of the security committee in the city to repress the separatists and
portray and strengthen his party as a force that can not be defeated.
The daily paper said that local people saw the Islamists of Islah assembling
in one of the military camps close to the square of Khor Maksar before they
implemented their violence against separatists. "Military camps have never
ever been used for favouring one party against others," said the paper.
The big question now in the minds of a lot of Yemenis is why President Hadi
allowed Islamists to do all that.
The leftist activist Samia Al-Aghbari advised President Hadi not to be
deceived by Islamists. "Do not believe them, they will make a pagan of you,
and then when they get angry, they will eat you."
Another analyst says that the northern tribal, military and religious
leaders dominating the Islamist party wanted to show how important they are
for Hadi in the south and the north.
"The Islah wanted to bathe the election of Hadi with southern blood to widen
the psychological gap between Hadi and southerners, and then make him depend
on Islah not only in the north but also in the south," said Ali Al-Bukhaiti,
political activist.
