Yemen's pro-secession southern leaders to boycott national dialogue conference

Yemen's pro-secession Southern Movement and several separatist factions calling for independence of the south from the north decided Wednesday to boycott next month's national dialogue conference. The separatist movement said in a statement obtained by Xinhua that it was in no mood to give in to attend a comprehensive national dialogue starting in mid November that would attract thousands of participants from political parties, human rights groups and civil society organizations. The decision, taken after a meeting of several high-ranking separatist figures and politicians in the port city of Aden, the capital of the formerly independent South Yemen, was viewed by political analysts as a snub to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The secessionists' refusal cast doubts on the possibility of the comprehensive national dialogue, scheduled to start next month and last for six months based on the Gulf-brokered power transfer deal under which former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after the year-long unrest. "The pro-secession southern leaders refuse to participate in the upcoming national dialogue proposed by the Sanaa government," the statement said. "Instead, we call for a forum under international supervision and including the discussion between the southern and northern parts based on the UN Security Council Resolutions 924 and 931 during the civil war in 1994," the statement added. "Dialogue means the Sanaa government have to talk to the southern separatist protesters and that simply isn't happening," a pro-secession southern leader told Xinhua anonymously. "No dialogue will take place, and any suggestion showing that it will happen is just anillusion. The authorities in Sanaa are saying one thing but doing another," he said. "Even as the government is calling for talks, security services are carrying out raids and arresting more separatist protesters and thousands of protesters remain jailed," he added. On the other hand, Mahmoud al-Jafery, a Yemeni government official, said the refusal of any group to participate in the national dialogue will "not mean the failure of the national initiative... They have the right to boycott in peaceful ways." "We hope that all political parties, including the opposition, the separatists, the youth and the northern rebels would participate to come out with resolutions that represent the needs and aspirations of all people in Yemen," he said. "We believe the dialogue is an important step for saving the country. Setting preconditions by the separatist leaders or any other groups before the process is not acceptable," he added. Yemeni government officials have called the exiled leaders of Southern Movement to return to Yemen in order to take part in the national dialogue. But some separatist leaders place little faith and believe that security units will simply arrest them at theairport if they come back. 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 have dismissed Hadi's call, with many saying that it was just an empty gesture.