Yemen Army to Quell demonstrations in South

[wolfwild]

On Tuesday, April 1, the Yemeni government deployed tanks and additional troops to southern Yemen. This followed a week of demonstrations by disaffected youths and retired military officers over perceived unfulfilled government promises to reincorporate them into the Yemen military. On Sunday, March 30, rioters set fire to at least two police stations in the southern city of al-Dhale, burned military vehicles, and stormed a state-owned bank before riot police successfully dispersed the crowds. However, following their dispersal in al-Dhale, armed demonstrators closed the highway to the port city of Aden.
Protests began last week in response to calls from the Retired Army Association of southern veterans demanding re-integration into the Yemen military. Members of the Retired Army Association told the Yemen Observer that only a small percentage of al-Dhale’s population who are eligible for re-integration into the Yemen military were selected during a recent recruitment drive.
Similar protests occurred intermittently throughout 2007, primarily in Yemen’s southern governorates of Aden and Marib.
Yemen Civil WaR

Following the reunification of North and South Yemen in 1990, southerners continued to perceive northern dominance in both the military and government contributed to a brief civil war in 1994, which ended with the defeat of the southern army after only a few months. Following their defeat the Yemen government offered amnesty to officers and soldiers from the southern army and promised re-integration into the Yemen military. However, the re-integration of officers and soldiers into the Yemen army has proceeded slowly, provoking considerable resentment and unrest among southerners.

Ongoing instability in southern Yemen is largely due to unresolved tensions between Yemen’s northerners, who continue to hold key positions in both the government and military, and southerners who continue to accuse the Yemen government of excluding them from both government and military positions.

For further questions, please contact Brent Heminger, OSAC’s Middle East Coordinator at [فقط الأعضاء المسجلين والمفعلين يمكنهم رؤية الوصلات . إضغط هنا للتسجيل].