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South Yemen activist: government troops, southerners, clash anew
DHALAE, Yemen: Anti-riot police wounded three south Yemen demonstrators when they opened fire Saturday to disperse thousands of protesters in the latest incident in the restive south, a southern activist said. The shooting in the southern city of Dhalae comes amid almost daily violence across swathes of south Yemen, where southerners' have staged a fortnight of protests which often turned violent, to demand equal treatment by northern-dominated government.The activist, Abdo al-Muatari, who heads a group of retired army officers, vowed the protests would continue and accused the government of embedding its agents among demonstrators to provoke and find justification to crack down on protesters. More northern Yemeni troops were deployed to streets in Dhalae and other southern cities because of the "illegal" demonstrations, said a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media. More than 283 demonstrators have been detained in the past two weeks. Of them, 122 have been charged with inciting riots and harming public property, the official said. During the same period, some 22 police officers and personnel have been injured, 75 shops demolished and looted, while several police vehicles were set ablaze by rioters. The number of Yemeni civilians injured in the clashes is estimated as 33, according to independent local press reports. Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujur on Thursday accused rioters as conspiring against the Yemeni people and said they aim to break up the country. "Some envious elements inside and outside (Yemen) are rallying the people, inciting hatred and resentment," Mujur said. "They target Yemen unity and they work on forming illegal entities as a cover to carry out their plots." Dhalae, 135 miles south of the capital of San'a, is a stronghold of southern Yemenis who complain of injustice at the hands of the government. They demand job opportunities, more powers to the local government, and that their men be allowed to re-enlist in the Yemen army. The violence underlines tensions between northern and southern Yemen, 14 years after a civil war. Northerners dominate the government and economy in this impoverished country, and many protesters are former members of the defeated southern army. After the civil war, many southern soldiers fled to the mountainous hinterlands and Saudi Arabia, returning only when Yemen's government issued an amnesty and promised to readmit them to the army — a promise southerners say has not been kept. Political analyst Mansour Hayam believes that as long as the government fails to work on meeting the southerners' demands, voices calling for separation from the north will increase. "What is happening now is a ... regime shutting ears and eyes on persistent crisis in the south," Hayam said, predicting more violence in the coming days. "If the regime doesn't resolve the crisis politically and peacefully, the small groups will turn to bombs ready to explode," he said. Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is home to heavily armed tribes that barely acknowledge the central government's authority. There is also a persistent al-Qaida movement that has attacked and killed foreigners on several occasions. Posted by: Steve 2008-04-13 |
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