Local Editor
Senior tribal, military and political leaders in Yemen have formed a new council that seeks the secession of southern Yemen, one week after mass protests in the streets of Aden, according to the former governor of Aden Aidaroos al-Zubaidi.
Al-Zubaidi made his announcement in a televised address in front of the flag of the former nation of South Yemen, whose forces were defeated by the north in 1994 and brought into a reunified country.
But Saudi Arabia and its key ally the United Arab Emirates, despite arming and funding southern troops during the war, do not back secession and say they fight for a unified Yemen. The southern part of Yemen has most of the country's oil.
Many southerners feel that officials in the north have exploited their resources and cut them off from jobs and influence.
The new announcement will likely worsen the division, as it effectively is trying to re-establish the former Southern Yemen state with Aden as the capital.
Saudi Arabia has been leading a destructive military campaign against Yemen since March 2015 to reinstate former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and crush the Houthi movement.
The campaign has seriously damaged the country’s infrastructure. Local Yemeni sources have put the death toll from the Saudi war at over 12,000, including many women and children.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
