DEMONSTRATIONS IN SOUTHERN YEMEN: BUSINESS AS USUAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 002180

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL YM
SUBJECT: DEMONSTRATIONS IN SOUTHERN YEMEN: BUSINESS AS USUAL

REF: SANAA 2171

Classified By: DCM Angie Bryan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Tough ROYG measures appear to have been broadly
successful at containing rallies in Yemen's south marking the
40th anniversary of Southern Yemen's independence from
British rule. Although demonstrations/celebrations took
place in Aden, Makulla and other areas, the only incident of
note occurred at a checkpoint north of Aden where government
forces fired on a crowd, reportedly killing one and injuring
two to four others (reftel). RSO confirmed that this
incident occurred, and added that he had heard of additional
demonstrations in Lahj and Abyan. As it has done previously,
the ROYG prevented people from entering the Aden governorate
at checkpoints in order to limit the number of protesters in
the city of Aden. According to Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel,
international news editor of Aden-based opposition paper
Al-Ayyam, the largest event in the city of Aden took place at
the Sheikh Uthman bus station, where he said witnesses
estimated 30 thousand gathered. (Note. Bashraheel did not
see the event himself and in any case such crowd estimates
are often overestimated. End Note.)


2. (C) The deputy head of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human
Rights told poloff on December 1 that she had been in Aden on
the 29th and 30th and said that everything was "fine and
normal." (Note. "Fine and normal" for southern Yemen in the
past few months is a condition that includes public protests
and occasional harsh ROYG reaction. End Note.) She noted
that, in the demonstration that she saw on the 29th, the
demonstrators were trying to "incite" security forces. This
statement mirrors what Bashraheel told poloff on December 1.
There was a heavy military presence in Aden on November 29,
he said, and added that "people nagged the soldiers by
shouting ethnic abuse at them from passing cars and
motorcycles."
SECHE