Southern Yemen aflame

With all the focus on typhoons and earthquakes in the Pacific there has been scant media coverage of the unrest that is currently engulfing southern and northern Yemen. While much has been written about the armed conflict in the north by MECASR in recent months the southern issue has received only passing interest. Over the past three days southerners alligned to the Southern Movement, a group of southern parties and civil groups opposed to the continued economic and political marginalisation of southern Yemen by the north, have staged numerous demonstrations and protests, clashing with security forces in Lajhij and Abyan governorates on a number of occassions. Dozens of people have been wounded in the unrest. The protesters have also taken to attacking government installations and removing Yemen flags replacing them with the former Southern Yemen flag in places where the government has only a limited presence (the north and south fought a brief civil war in the early 1990s following unification of the two states). The central government has since deployed additional troops to the south to quell the uprising - focusing its efforts on the towns of Zinjibar and Habilyan, the worst affected centres. We can expect further violence in coming days. If the Southern Movement decide to proceed with their activities it will come at a particular good time as the central government is distracted by fighting rebels in the northern Saada governorate. Game on.