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| Arabia |
| Police Arrest South Yemen Separatist Leaders |
| 2013-02-21 |
[An Nahar] Police incarceratedBook 'im, Mahmoud! two separatist leaders in south Yemen, ahead of planned rival rallies to mark the first anniversary of ex-president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... 's ouster, a security official and activists said on Wednesday. Qassem Askar, a leader of the hardline faction of the separatist Southern Movement, was arrested early in the morning in the southern port city Aden, activist Yasser al-Yafie told Agence La Belle France Presse. "He was taken to an unknown location." Southern holy man Hussein bin Shouaib was arrested late Tuesday after he chaired a meeting urging protests in Aden, the ex-capital of the formerly independent south, a security official said. The arrests come on the eve of the first anniversary Thursday of the uncontested election of President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi which ended Saleh's 33-year autocratic rule, following a year-long deadly uprising to topple the former president. Supporters and opponents of Hadi, himself a southerner, have said they will hold rival rallies on Thursday, prompting fears of possible festivities in Aden -- a stronghold of southern separatists. The Islamist Al-Islah (reform) Party has called for a pro-Hadi rally in Aden's Khor Maksar district. "We believe that the wise ones among the Southern Movement will not use violence against a peaceful and civilised gathering," said Abdullah al-Alimi, a youth activist linked to al-Islah. |
| Posted by:Fred |