South Yemen on hot tin of protests

Abdullah Al-Qubati, for Yemenat

Sana- Thousands of southern protesters went to rallies in southern provinces Thursday calling for disengagement from the north part of Yemen.

Southern Movements supporters demonstrated in al-Dhalia province, Radfan and al-Hawta of Lahj province Thursday in a weekly tradition for protests known as “the Sothern prisoner day”.

The angry demonstrators protested on military shelling and blockade on Radfan and security suppression and arrests against last peaceful protests in a number of southern zones, among of which Radfan and Aden province.

They held up prisoners pictures and southern flags and figures.

Reportedly, security detained 20 protestors Thursday morning in al-Hawta of Lahj as precautionary measures of a demonstration.

The demonstrations came after a week of tension prevailed in the southern cities.

On last Wednesday, six people injured including two soldiers in armed clashes erupted between security forces and protestors in Khormaksar directorate of the port city of Aden.

Dozens demonstrators protested on refusing the Attorney-General to refer a murder case of Ahmed Aldirweesh to the court.

Aldirweesh, 24 years young man from Aden, was arrested by the Central Security Forces last year, 24th June, in the background of participating in a protest organized by Southern Movement in Khormaksar of Aden. Then, he died after a day of his arrest in the Criminal Investigation Prison of Aden.

The official medical report stated that his tortur caused internal and external bleeding led to his death. The jailer and three soldiers from the Central Security Forces (CSF) were accused of being behind the torture.

After long demand directed to security authorities, Aden prosecution investigated with the jailer on last November, but the CSF, a counter-terrorism unit supported by US, has been refusing to hand the other 3 soldiers over to the prosecution.

On Thursday, thousands demonstrated in several southern cities calling for independence from what they described the “occupation” of the north. They also demanded a referendum like what is going in Sudan.

On last Sunday, 8 people injured in al-Habylain city of Radfan when army troops opened fire on a peaceful demonstration protesting on the military blockade on the area since mid of last December.

In a separate incident took place in the same day evening in al-Habylain, a woman died and four others injured, including 2 women and 2 children, as artillery shells of army bombed a family house.

A day before, military troops stormed al-Habylain.This came after hours of heavy artillery shells launched by the army on the city as a number of armed residents were trying to prevent the army from entering the city. The clashes injured at least 4 gunmen and 2 soldiers. The residents displaced to the neighboring areas.
 
A website affiliated with the Southern Movement listed the causalities in Radfan directorate due to the military shelling and blockade as a dead and 30 wounded since the beginning of current January.

String of protests have been inflaming in many areas of Hadramout, southern east of Yemen, since last Thursday when a woman was crushed to death by a military patrol in al-Mukalla, the second largest city in the South.

Murders without defendants

Separately, a northern person was found dead by locals Thursday morning in al-Habilain. According to witnesses, gunshot wounds were seen on the body. No official release has been stated the death nature.

In a similar incident, another northern man was found dead on last Wednesday in a nearby place of the same city of al-Habylain. The Interior Ministry has not also identified the murder, but it suggested that hatred motives were behind the incident.

Since mid last year, it was the sixth body of people from northern provinces have been found dead in southern areas in mysterious circumstances.

In most of these incidents, the government accused the Southern Movement of being behind such hatred murders and other violent incidents against northerners, but it has not brought perpetrators to justice.

Whereas, the Southern Movement that identified itself as “peaceful” absolutely denied and charged the ruling power intelligence with involvement with these crimes through planting murder mercenaries in the south portraying the movement activists as criminals. And thus, the power aimed to abort their rising protests and demands and throw them into civil strife through inciting northern tribes to fight them in proxy. Particularly, as the military-security campaigns, which killed hundreds people since 2007, were not able to put out the raging protests.

In some murders, the authorities disclosed certain defendants and described them as members of the southern movement, however the Southern Movement denied any ties with them.

Furthermore, thousands of southern movement demonstrated on 11th July, 2009 in al-Habylain to protest on killing three people from the north worked in the city.

An public debate conducted around the incident, upon which members of the House of Representatives accused the government of complicity with the perpetrators, ending with the first interrogation made by the House to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior on 14th July 2010.


Write to Abdullah Al-Qubati at qubati2006@yahoo.com