Sana’a: Yemen southern separatists agreed on Sunday to return to national reconciliation talks after receiving assurances the future of their region will be discussed, the United Nations and an opposition chief said.
Representatives of the Southern Movement, an umbrella group of various factions from the former independent South Yemen, will return to the talks on Monday, UN envoy Jamal Benomar told reporters in Sana’a.
He spoke following a meeting with representatives of the movement, who walked out last month demanding a Sana’a apology for past wars and that talks between Sana’a and southerners be held abroad.
Southern chief Yassin Mekkawi, who is also the deputy head of the national dialogue, said his side has agreed to resume talks in Sana’a, after promises that their demands, set out in a letter to President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi, would be examined.
The Southern Movement had demanded the creation of a special committee in the dialogue, formed equally of northern and southern representatives, to discuss the future of the link between the south and Sana’a.
Sources close to the talks said this demand has been met and a committee of 16 members will look into the future form of the state, including a federation or a confederation encompassing the regions of the Arabian Peninsula nation.
Yemen’s government last month apologised to the southerners and northern rebels for wars waged against them by the state under former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in February 2012 after a year of nation-wide protests.
The apology came as Sana’a sought to jump-start the national dialogue that is aimed at drafting a new constitution and holding elections in February 2014.
The dialogue is part of a Gulf-brokered initiative that ended the protests and paved the way for a transitional period led by Hadi, who was Saleh’s deputy at the time.
After north and south Yemen united in 1990, southern leaders led a short-lived breakaway in 1994 that sparked a civil war that culminated in occupation by northern troops.
