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Yemeni president urges dialogue after deadly clashes
By Hammoud Mounassar May 21, 2009
SANAA (AFP) — Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh called on Thursday for national dialogue after deadly clashes erupted in the south, just as the country celebrated the anniversary of the union between north and south.
"(I call on) all political groups and non-governmental organisations on the national Yemeni scene (to join) the national dialogue as it is the ideal means to solve issues that are important to the nation," Saleh said in a televised speech to mark 19 years since unification.
But as the government put on a massive show of force, with a parade of 30,000 men and a cavalcade of military hardware, deadly clashes erupted in the port city of Aden in the south, where separatist sentiment still runs deep.
Three people were killed and 30 wounded when police opened fire to disperse a 3,000 strong rally in Aden and 120 people were also arrested.
Thursday's events highlighted the explosive mood in the south, where living conditions are far worse than in the rest of the country, one of the poorest in the world.
A total of 11 people, including four soldiers, have now been killed since unrest erupted in late April.
Saleh blamed "outlaws" for the violence which he said aimed "to hit at the nation and its safety and to stir unrest".
"Unity is deep-seated like mountains and is here to stay," he said. "Those (calling for secession)... will not defeat the nation and will fail as they have failed before."
North and South Yemen were unified on May 22, 1990, but the commemoration took place a day early as the actual anniversary falls on Friday, the Muslim holy day.
Saleh has previously warned against the risk of Yemen breaking up into "several entities" amid trouble in the south over the past year after an attempt at secession in 1994 was crushed by the northern army, supported by Islamist militants back from Afghanistan.
Saleh's government also faces the risk of a renewed Shiite rebellion in the north, and the "show of might" in Sanaa by was intended as a clear message to the government's enemies, a diplomat told AFP.
"The message has been sent," the diplomat said.
The troops in Sanaa, mainly from the elite republican guards, special forces and the first armoured division, paraded past Saleh, who sat behind a bullet-proof glass wall, and an audience of diplomats and thousands of Yemenis.
Military equipment on show in the hour-long procession was mainly Russian manufactured, including tanks and fighter planes.
Established in 1967 after the departure of the British, South Yemen merged in 1990 with the north, led since 1978 by Saleh, who then became the president of the new republic.
The south's four million people are vastly outnumbered by the north's 20 million and southerners complain of jobs and land being reserved for the northerners.
Anger has burst out again in the past few months as the economic crisis had started to have an impact.
Protests against the north have been spearheaded by the Southern Movement, a loose organisation of groups opposed to the Sanaa government, but with no clear ******ship.
On Thursday, demonstrators were blocked by police firing live bullets and tear gas as they tried to go into Aden city to protest against worsening living conditions.
Saleh said in his speech that the government plans to reform the constitution to develop the political and the electoral system, grant wider powers to provincial rule and attract investment into the country, where oil production has been dwindling.

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