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Calls by the Southern Movement in Yemen, calling for the secession of South Yemen have intensified with a call by exiled former South Yemeni President Ali Salem Al Beidh for the south’s independence. The calls came at a time of increasing protests in the south, as well as isolated skirmishes between protestors and Yemeni forces.
Several people were reported to have been killed in those protests over the past several weeks. Separatists have also closed the Sana’a-Aden highway, and fought troops on the road, resulting in the killing of several soldiers and fighters.
November 29, 2009
Analysis and Forecast: increasing risk
The intensification of the tensions between the government forces and the southern separatists could not have come at a worse time for the central government, which is engaged in what appears to be a protracted battle with the Houthi rebels in the north.
The central government has failed to satisfy the demands of the southerners despite repeated protests in the past several months. The southerners were complaining about lack of government jobs and assistance and have often referred to the Yemeni re-unification as an occupation.
With the government’s limited resources already stretched in Sa’ada, the government may find it difficult to face the increasing tensions in the south.
It is expected that the protests will increase in the south, adding further pressure on the resources of the central government and hence posing a serious challenge to the country’s unity, even in the short term.
