Yemen: travelling from Sana’a to Aden a suicide mission

Chiara Onassis | 30 April 2012

CAIRO: The General Secretary of the Socialist Party, Yaseen Saeed Noman, officially demanded that President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi present his apologies to the south for a decade of persecution and social stigma as well as political and economic discrimination.

The demand came amid reports of renewed violence in Yemen southern territories, especially in the sea-port of Aden where the divide between north and south is felt deeply.

Residents reported that northerners are often pursued in the streets by armed men loyal to al-Harak, the Southern Secessionist Movement, beaten up and on some occasions even killed.

Travelers told Bikyamasr.com that travelling from the capital, Sana’a to Aden equated now to a suicide mission, saying that militias were roaming the main roads, killing and mugging northerners in all impunity.

 “The situation is at breaking point … even the Republican Guards cannot ensure people’s safety anymore, advising all travelers to turn around and go back to the capital,” said Nawal al-Sharjabi a doctor who recently went to Aden and was almost killed when a shoot-out broke out 80 kilometers from Aden.

Noman stressed that of the central government was not prepared to make much sacrifices Yemen would risk breaking into pieces.

He emphasized that as a show of good faith Sana’a should reinstate all southern dismissed state employees and pay back up retirements and compensations.

When Sana’a integrated the south to its system, thousands of people on the government pay-roll were either dismissed or retired early, without rightful compensations.