There is an urgent need for the government to reach out to the southerners, not to try to bully them into submission, now that the Houthis have been quelled, insists Mohamed Hafez Three days after a fiery speech in the Police College, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh opted for a ceasefire with Al-Houthi rebels in the northwest Saadah governorate. However, his speech of 16 February was so vitriolic that it sparked off angry protest in the south of the country. In the south of the country, security and military forces have been deployed to counter protests that the south action movement has been waging since 2007. The protests have been mounted by ex- army personnel who were relieved of their duties. Some of them formed organisations that call for secession from Yemen. Besides lawlessness, poverty and human rights abuses by government authorities, there are more direct reasons for the unrest. The government didn't respond to the demands the southerners voiced in a letter to the president. These demands include requests of reinstatement at work by ex-military personnel, demands for promotion and compensation for years of forced leave from the service, and for loss of property that has either been taken away or looted during the war. As the unrest took a more organised form, well known politicians from the south started getting involved. People like Ali Salem Al-Beid, Ali Nasser Mohamed and Haydar Al-Attas began to take up the cause of the demonstrators. In addition, several southern parliamentarians joined in. Major clan leaders were led by Sheikh Nasser Al-Fadli, who was a close ally of the former regime, then formed a political front that became quite defiant to the ruling regime in Yemen. At this point, the protesters again began to ask for secession from the north. The government, not knowing what to do, took one tack and then another. First, it dismissed the requests of the protesters and ignored the protests. Then it accused the protesters of disloyalty. The government said that it would pass new legislation that would criminalise attacks on national unity. It promised to criminalise any acts that would interfere with national interests and security, to bring the agitators to trial, and to lift the immunity of a number of southern parliamentarians involved in the protests. Then it got tough, sending in the army and security forces to confront the demonstrators. The confrontations that followed left dozens of demonstrators and activists dead or wounded. The licences of eight independent papers were revoked: Al-Ayyam, Al-Nidaa, Al-Sharaa, Al-Watani, Al-Ahali, Al-Mustaqillah, Al-Diyar and Al-Masdar. The papers were charged with fanning the flames of the insurgency. The government also started forming "popular committees" in the governorates with a view to defending its views on Yemeni unity. It supposedly put on the breaks after this tough phase, negotiating with some of the protest leaders and trying to co- opt them by resolving their personal problems. The government actually appointed some of the protesters in a consultative capacity with the main ministries, the army, the police and the universities. It granted other protesters army officer ranks and decorations, provided them with medical care, and sent them on recreational trips. In doing so, the government succeeded in dismantling the association of ex-military personnel that had sparked off the protests in the first place. The association of ex-military personnel is the one that organised the rally of 7 July 2007 in Aden. This association is now a spent force, for most of its founders have left it for government posts. The more hardline members have continued to organise protests and joined other action groups. The government also managed to dismantle the reconciliation councils once led by Saleh Al-Shaabi. The leaders of those councils have gone over to other action groups and organised a protest rally on 13 January 2007. President Saleh admitted that errors have taken place throughout the country. He formed a presidential committee for fact finding in the south and told the committee to collect testimonies from the locals on the confrontations that took place there. He also reinstated thousands of ex-military personnel in the army and gave them $250 million in compensations and promised to give greater power to local government bodies in the country. Strangely enough, the way in which things were sorted out with the Houthis reflected badly on the south. In his speech at the Police College remarks, President Saleh lashed out at the southern opposition at home and abroad, accusing its members of treason. He called on honourable people in the south to "spit in their faces", and threatened to take harsh measures against the protesters. Why did President Saleh do that? He realised he had the support of the US after the London Conference in January, and would get lots of money from them and the Saudis at the follow-up conference this week in Riyadh. Besides, the Houthis have accepted the six conditions made by his government, so he is confident that he can bring the southern protesters to heel. But in the past few days, police clashed with armed groups, thought to be affiliated with the southern insurgence, who were blocking public roads between the country's north and south. A man named Tareq Tammah has formed an armed militia in Abyen as well as in other southern govenorates. He called the militia "The Battalions of Resistance for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab South". Tareq Al-Fadli, former jihadist and current leader of peaceful protests, has declared "an uprising by stones". Secessionists have assassinated the head of intelligence in the southern city of Al-Dale. Since its inception in 2007, the southern protest movement has grown in power and currently enjoys much influence. The government should improve conditions in the south in order to stave off further protests. For this to happen, it needs to forge closer links with political parties, society and clan chiefs of the south.
