Source : Xinhua
ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of pro-secession protesters on Sunday took to streets across Yemen's southern port city of Aden, calling for independence of the south on the 27th anniversary of civil war.
More than 7,000 pro-secession protesters comprising students, political activists and lawyers, organized a large rally to mark the anniversary of civil war on Jan. 13, 1986.
The rally that initially called for peace and tolerance then turned to call for secession from the northern part of Yemen.
"South Independence, South Independence... We all want the right for self-determination," the protesters chanted.
A local government official told Xinhua anonymously that "The whole country is in an alarming situation in all respects. But we don't want secession. We stick to unification of all Yemen's parts.
"The south secession issues and other issues should be discussed through dialogue. We refuse the acts of violence," the official added.
Yemen's pro-secession Southern Movement and several other separatist factions have refused to participate in the upcoming national dialogue proposed by the central Sanaa government.
The comprehensive national dialogue scheduled to begin soon is based on a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal under which former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after one-year-long unrest.
Government officials have called the exiled leaders of the Southern Movement to return to Yemen to take part in the national dialogue, but some separatist leaders place little faith and claim that security units will simply arrest them at the airport if they come back.
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the first president from southern Yemen since the country's two parts unified in 1990, pledged that he will address the problems by launching a responsible national dialogue within the framework of the constitutional institutions.
However, youth activists and politicians in the south dismissed Hadi's call, with many saying that i was just an empty gesture.
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