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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Southern Yemen leaders launch body seeking split from north

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ADEN: Senior tribal, military and political leaders have formed a new council seeking the secession of southern Yemen, the former governor of the area’s main city Aden said on Thursday, threatening to bring more turmoil to a two-year-old civil war.


Aidaroos al Zubaidi made his announcement in a televised address in front of the flag of the former nation of South Yemen, whose forces were defeated by the north in 1994 and brought into a reunified country.


Zubaidi said a “national political leadership” under his presidency would administer and represent the south — a region which holds much of Yemen’s modest oil deposits, the backbone of its economy.


A senior southern Yemeni official said secessionists hoped the mostly Gulf Arab military coalition would support their cause.


Many southerners feel that officials in the north have exploited their resources and cut them off from jobs and influence. But Saudi Arabia and its key ally the United Arab Emirates, despite arming and funding southern troops during the war, do not back secession and say they fight for a unified Yemen.


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