Emeute au Yemen juillet 2009
One person dies in southern Yemen, protests persist
Wed Jul 8, 2009
SANAA, July 8 (Reuters) – One person has been killed in clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces in southern Yemen where separatist sentiment is strong, government officials and opposition figures said on Wednesday.
The demonstrator died on Tuesday in Hadramout, in southern Yemen, a local opposition leader told Reuters.
People in the south, home to most of Yemen’s oil facilities, have long complained that northerners abuse a unity agreement to grab their resources and discriminate against them.
Secessionist demonstrations have persisted over several days in different parts of the south, the latest taking place in the region of Dalea on Wednesday, according to local officials.
In the southern port of city of Aden dozens of people were detained for questioning but then released during protests on Tuesday.
They were calling for the release of three local leaders of the secessionist Peaceful Southern Movement, who were detained by the authorities on Monday, government and opposition sources told Reuters.
In May, several demonstrators were killed in clashes with security forces that lasted a number of days, prompting a rare call by the United States for an end to the violence.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has said it fears instability in Yemen could allow it to become a launch pad for a revival of a 2003-2006 campaign by al Qaeda militants to topple the U.S.-allied ruling Al Saud family.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh took power in the former North Yemen in 1978 and has been president since the merger with the south in 1990, winning another seven-year term in a 2006 election.
He backed U.S. moves to crack down on al Qaeda, including inside Yemen, after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.
Demonstrations over army pensions turned violent in Aden in 2007. Job protests in the south degenerated into riots last year. Some southern leaders have openly called for secession.
Insecurity in Yemen has affected international companies developing the oil and gas sector, while attacks on foreigners — including kidnappings by disgruntled tribesmen — have hit tourism, Western diplomats say. (Reporting by Mohammed Sudam in Sanaa and Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Two dead as riots sweep across Yemen’s south
http://www.etaiwannews.com
By AHMED AL-HAJ
Associated Press
2009-07-08
Two people were killed and nine others injured when police clashed with protesters in southern Yemeni cities detaining dozens, opposition members and local doctors said Tuesday.
Thousands of anti-government activists took to the streets starting Monday throughout Yemen’s south to mark the defeat of southern secessionist forces in the 1994 civil war.
The south, which was a separate country until it unified with the north in 1990, complains that it is discriminated against by the northerner-dominated government.
Security forces deployed heavily in the port city of Aden Tuesday, the former southern capital, to prevent protesters from taking to the streets. Still, protesters went out, shouting: « Revolution, revolution, O south. »
Some demonstrators pelted the soldiers with stones, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government retribution.
Local opposition leader and parliament member Nasser al-Khabagi in Aden said police opened fire to disperse the crowd, and shot Walid al-Suneidi, a political activist in his 20s, as he resisted arrest outside a local hotel.
Al-Suneidi died from head wounds, a doctor at Aden’s al-Mansoura hospital said, on condition his name not be used because of the tension in the city.
Outside the port city of Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramawt, Local council member Ahmed Madi said one person was killed when police fired at the demonstration, which had begun peacefully.
Madi condemned the shooting, and appealed to security to refrain from using violence.
A Health Ministry official said the man died from a shot to the head. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
No official comment was immediately available on the two incidents.
Clashes between protesters and the security forces in Mukalla and neighboring Dis Sharqiya and Shahr started after sundown, and gun shots could still be heard around the city late Tuesday.
Protesters there pelted the security with stones, and blocked roads with burning tires and garbage, local residents said refusing to give their names out of fear of retribution.
Opposition leader Al-Khabagi said the arrest campaign in Aden brings the number of people detained since July 1 to around 250.
« The authorities have lost control, » he said.
Yemen’s south is periodically rocked by violent demonstrations of the disgruntled southerners calling for reform and power-sharing. At least six people were killed in violent protests since May.
Local residents and security officials in the town of Dali, north of Aden, said a protest in the area Tuesday was dispersed when security fired tear gas, injuring three people.
Two security were injured when pelted with stones, the security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to news media
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