Well, if no one was sure whether the government is fighting on three fronts (in addition to war with the Huthis, and Al-Qaeda) today's events sure as heck got everyone's attention, and once again, we're in the headlines.
Today, the Peaceful Revolutionary Council called for civil disobedience in the Southern states, as a reaction to the closing of five southern opposition newspapers for their "inciting violence" and "jeoprodizing the unity of Yemen". The governors of the South though threatened whoever participates in this action a deduction in their monthly pay (about $50, which is 1/4 of most ppl's salaries). The "Southern Movement", called for all possible peaceful actions to demand seperation from the North, which many a souhern website calls a "military occupation". Things seem to be firing up in the South, a smart tactic from the southerners to seek international attention while the magnifying lense is still on the country. The demonstrations in the south ended in thousands of arrests and several deaths according to "The Southern Arabia" websites. Gov resources say there were hidden arms and explosives, but the Southern Movement leaders insist that these were planted to use as an exuse for the government's violence against peaceful demonstrators.
The real problem here is that there seems to be Al-Qaeda leaders in the South, who sometimes call for such demonstrations and such, these guys cause a hell lotta confusion, because the government uses them as a perfect excuse to just eliminate the southern seperation movements, while the leaders of these movements insist they have nothing to do with Al-Qaeda, do not support it, and sure do not get anything from it (there is a refernce to the obvious idelogical difference, as most of the south still roots for a Marxist state). But, one of the leaders of the Southern Movement who called for the strike today "Al-Fadhli" is said to be an ex-Al-Qaeda leader, and one of the people involved in the northern military invasion of the South during the 1994 civil war. Oh, and he is also a relative of the President's by marriage, used to be in the parliament, and his dad was kicked out by the Marxist gov of the South back in the day. What kind of confusinmg crap is this!
Things in Abyan went back to normal in the early afternoon. But this is sure getting more messy by the day!
