Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SANAA2151
2009-12-02 11:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Sanaa
Cable title:  

ROYG PREEMPTS SOUTHERN PROTESTS, ATTEMPTS TO

Tags:  PGOV PNAT PTER PINR YM 
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VZCZCXRO5106
RR RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHYN #2151/01 3361112
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 021112Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANAA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3300
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 0372
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0444
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 002151 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND INR JYAPHE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2019
TAGS: PGOV PNAT PTER PINR YM
SUBJECT: ROYG PREEMPTS SOUTHERN PROTESTS, ATTEMPTS TO
STIFLE UNREST

REF: SANAA 02128

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 002151

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND INR JYAPHE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/02/2019
TAGS: PGOV PNAT PTER PINR YM
SUBJECT: ROYG PREEMPTS SOUTHERN PROTESTS, ATTEMPTS TO
STIFLE UNREST

REF: SANAA 02128

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. While widespread violence did not erupt
during Southern Mobility Movement (SMM) demonstrations on
November 30 in Aden (reftel),tens of thousands of protestors
flooded the streets despite government warnings not to
assemble days before and a preemptive scale-up in ROYG
security presence. Several thousand protestors were detained
and four bystanders were killed in a series of carjackings
and clashes with SMM activists and security personnel. In
response to the disruption of the SMM's planned Southern
Independence Day demonstrations on November 30, the SMM held
more protests in Dali' on December 1 in which no one was
killed due to a lack of ROYG presence in that region. This
does not exclude the possibility of further demonstrations by
the SMM, particularly in governorates where the central
government is weaker, and counteractions by the ROYG and
northern tribesmen angered by the targeting of northerners.
END SUMMARY.

WHO WANTS TO COME OUT TO PLAY?
--------------


2. (C) ROYG forces lined the streets of Aden early on the
morning of November 30, the day marking southern Yemen's 42nd
anniversary of independence from the British, in the hopes of
pre-empting the Southern Mobility Movement (SMM) protests
which many observers had expected to result in violence
(reftel). On November 28 the ROYG issued a number of
warnings in Aden that any unlicensed protests would not be
allowed. Basha Bashraheel, head of the independent,
Aden-based Al-Ayyam newspaper, believes these decrees were a
ploy to discredit the SMM, since there is no established
process to apply for such a permit. Despite the ROYG's show
of force, protestors turned out in droves for demonstrations,
resulting in thousands of arrests and the death of one
security official and three civilian bystanders in clashes
between the ROYG and armed SMM activists. Opposition and
independent media sources reported that thousands of
protestors participated in demonstrations in Abyan, Lahj, and

Dali'. Bahsraheel told PolOff there were "tens of thousands
of protestors in Aden alone, but it seemed like there were
equal numbers, if not more, of soldiers in the streets."
Ahmed al-Khamri, an Adeni local, told PolOff that "there were
so many soldiers and protestors in the streets I was scared
to go out of my house and will have to wait at least a few
days before I can safely return to Sana'a." Local press
reports indicate that anywhere from 500 to 2,600 protestors
were jailed on November 30, but Bashraheel believes they will
be held only temporarily. Khamri predicted that rumors of
future retaliatory protests to be held in areas outside Aden
the week of December 5 may prompt the security forces to hold
the November 30 protestors indefinitely until the ROYG feels
secure that they would not partake in any future protests.

THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME
--------------


3. (C) A ROYG corporal, Fawaz Abdullah Ali Khaled al-Kamali,
was killed in Shabwah on November 30 by gunmen on the road to
Aden. According to press reports, Kamali was driving to
Ta'iz to spend Eid with his family when he was carjacked and
killed by activists once they discovered his military ID.
Bashraheel opined the gunmen were avenging the November 25
deaths of southern protestors and killed Kamali "simply
because he was a northern soldier." Two other carjackings
resulted in the death of three northerners, all supposedly
Eid travelers visiting family in southern Yemen who did not
have an active role in either suppressing or participating in
the protests. In retaliation for the carjackings of
northerners, the Radama tribe in Ibb, the Mourees tribe in
Qataba, and the Anss tribe in Dhamar have reportedly set up
checkpoints along major roads searching for southerners from
al-Habilayn and Yafi who might have killed their tribesmen.
The Ministry of Defense-owned weekly September 26 reported
that SMM activists were responsible for the carjackings, but
Nasir al-Khabji, an SMM leader, issued statements denying his
group was responsible. Khabji was quoted in Aden Press, a
pro-secessionist Arabic language daily, claiming that either
individuals acting independently killed the bystanders or
that pro-ROYG "militias are behind these events in a
desperate attempt to characterize the SMM as a criminal
organization that kills based on identification cards."
Bashraheel believes one of the carjackings to be the work of
the Committee to Protect Unity, a pro-government vigilante

SANAA 00002151 002.2 OF 002


group, in an attempt to frame the SMM for anti-northern
violence.

COMMENT
--------------


4. (C) While widespread violence did not materialize on
November 30 due to a ramped-up military presence in Aden,
recent restrictions along the roads, and pre-emptive warnings
not to assemble, tensions are still running high in southern
Yemen, particularly in governorates with limited ROYG
control. With much of the military engaged in Sa'ada,
President Saleh has limited military and security assets to
deploy to southern Yemen if the situation worsens. The
emergence of random carjackings and killing of bystanders
based on southern-northern animosity is disturbing,
particularly if revenge killings and tribal rivalries become
inflamed by SMM protests and ROYG retaliatory crackdowns in
their struggle for predominance in southern Yemen. END
COMMENT.
BRYAN