South Yemen Activists Push For Independence
Activists from the Southern Mobility Movement in Yemen claim that Sanaa is exploiting rumors of al-Qaeda activity in the south to delegitimize their cause.
In the past few days [May 21-29], South Yemen has been the scene of political, security and military developments that have captured the attention of Arab and international media. As the Yemeni regime was celebrating the 23rd anniversary of Yemeni unity between the North and the South, the Southern Mobility Movement (SMM) organized a million-man demonstration in Freedom Square in the city of Aden in South Yemen, marking the 19th anniversary of the Declaration of Disengagement between the Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) and the Yemen Arab Republic (North). The gathering was described as the largest in the history of the South. Supporters of "disengagement" or secession from the North came from different areas of the South despite the heat in Aden, the former capital of the South.
A few days after the million-man demonstration, the Yemeni authorities announced on May 24 that they uncovered a plot by the al-Qaeda-affliated Ansar al-Sharia to capture the town of Ghayl Ba Wazir in Hadramout Governorate, southeast of the country, and declare it an Islamic emirate.
In 2011, Ansar al-Sharia captured the cities of Zanzibar, Jaar and Shakra in the southern governorate of Abyan, and the city of Azzan in the Shabwa governorate. They were expelled by the army in mid-2012.
The Yemeni authorities did not provide further details about the "plot." They warned al-Qaeda of a fate similar to that suffered by its militants in the Abyan governorate, in the towns of Abyan, Shabwa and Bayda. The army was able to restore control of these areas after they were declared to be Islamic emirates by al-Qaeda in 2011.
