Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Aden Commemorates 51st Anniversary of National Liberation Revolution
From left to right: President Salim Rubai Ali, Abdul Fattah Ismail,
the Secretary  General of the National Liberation Front, and Prime
Minister Ali al-Nasir Muhammad al-Hasani (1977)
Published on 14 October 2014
Ali Abulohoom (author)
Yemen Times

SANA’A, Oct. 13—Hundred of thousands of protesters have flocked to Aden from around the country to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the former South Yemen’s 1963 revolution against British occupation on October 14.

The Southern Movement, which was established in 2007 and is demanding the south’s independence from the north, issued a press statement on Oct. 13. It called on all southerners to gather in Aden and launch a “One Million March of Divisiveness” on Oct. 14, calling for secession from the north.

The commemoration’s key political message, according to the press release, is to call on the international community to side with the southerners and support their quest for self-determination.

Mohammed Saleh, an employee in the Aden Security Department, confirmed that the number of people coming to Aden from different governorates has reached into the hundreds of thousands.

The organizers of the anniversary commemoration formed popular committees to protect public and private interests in the event of chaos, according to the press release.

According to Saleh, the security committee set up by the department for the march in Aden has taken tight procedures in anticipation of chaos that might arise due to the anniversary, including preventing weapons from entering Aden, securing governmental and private facilities, and spreading patrol police in the streets around the clock.

Khaled Bamadhaf, one of the Southern Movement leaders, confirmed that recent developments in the north, including the Houthis’ control over military and civic institutions in Sana'a, are making southerners press ahead with their demand for independence, as “they can no longer stand the situation in the north.”

In a televised speech on Sunday, Houthi leader Abdulmalik Al-Houthi called on the southern leaders who left Yemen after the civil war in 1994 to return and ensure the peaceful development of the southern issue.

Saleh Al-Edroos, one of the commemoration’s organizers, said the southerners have experienced losses and grievances after northern troops “invaded the south” in the early 1990s, stealing the southerners' possessions and lands, in addition to laying-off southern employees in state institutions.

“The pending grievances, for which Yemeni governments have failed to find solutions, led southerners to continue demanding separation,” he explained.

“We as southerners do believe that whatever happens in the north will not contribute to the solution for the southern issue. The southerners themselves are the only ones who can solve their problems,” Al-Edroos added.

Ali Salem Al-Baidh, the former president of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, or South Yemen, issued a public letter to the UN Secretary General on Oct. 9, five days before the commemoration. It included the demand for holding a referendum on independence under the auspices of the United Nations.

Marches are scheduled to take place on Oct. 14 in Aden, Hadramout, and Abyan governorates. The main commemoration, however, is taking place in Aden, according to Al-Edroos.

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