S. Yemen Separatists Slam Dialogue Relocation To Aden

A senior leader with the main separatist movement in southern Yemen has criticized a call by embattled President ABD Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to relocate the country's dialogue to the southern city of Aden.



Hadi's call to move the dialogue's administration to Aden "is not a good idea," Yehya al-Shuaibi, a senior member Al Herak movement, told The Anadolu Agency. "It would only lead to take part of the conflict to the south," he added.



On Thursday, Hadi has urged the national dialogue's administration to relocate to Aden after Houthi militants stormed its headquarters in capital Sanaa.



The national dialogue body said Houthi militants had stormed its offices in Sanaa late Wednesday night, prompting the administration to declare the suspension of its activities in Sanaa while continuing to operate in other Yemeni provinces.



Yet, the relocation move was not warmly received by Al Herak, the main separatist group that has been calling for years for a separate state in southern Yemen with Aden as its capital.



"The national dialogue and its administration are a main part of the ongoing conflict in Yemen and part and parcel of the political crisis in the north," al-Shuaibi said.



"The southerners have already refused to participate or recognize the dialogue and made countless sacrifices for the separation cause," he added.



Southerners demand autonomy for the southern parts of Yemen and the annulment of a 1990 unification agreement between the country's north and south.



Movement activists say the residents of southern Yemen have been suffering discrimination at the hands of the central government in Sanaa.



They speak of the dismissal of thousands of southern citizens from public posts in recent years and the arbitrary confiscation by the government of properties in the south.



Yemeni authorities have, however, repeatedly denied these claims.



The southerners' struggle for secession gained a fresh impetus in recent months, especially after Yemen's Shiite Houthis took over Sanaa and other key Yemeni provinces.



Yemen has been dogged by political turmoil since pro-democracy protests forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2012 after 33 years in power.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Sana