Yemenis launched Monday U.N.-backed national reconciliation talks aimed at drawing the state's divisive players towards into a negotiated settlement.
The opening session, aired on Al Arabiya television, began with background noise from people who protested against the talks. President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi interfered to ask to demand that those to who are against the talks must leave the venue.
The talks are being boycotted by hardline southern factions who staged a general strike and protests in the port city of Aden on Sunday against the dialogue initiative.
The difficult talks, scheduled to run six months, bring together 565 representatives of Yemen's various political groups -- from secessionists in the south to Zaidi Shiite rebels in the north, in addition to civil society representatives.
They aim to draft a new constitution and prepare for general elections in February 2014, after a two-year transition led by President Hadi.
The dialogue should take place as per the U.N.-brokered deal that eased former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office following an 11-month uprising against his 33-year rule.
The talks, originally scheduled to start in mid-November, were delayed mainly due to the refusal of factions in the Southern Movement -- campaigning for autonomy or secession for the formerly independent south -- to join the talks.
Most factions have finally agreed to take part after months of negotiations and under U.N. pressure.
But the movement's hardliners led by South Yemen's former president Ali Salem al-Baid have dug in their heels, insisting instead on negotiations between two independent states in the north and south.
On Sunday, thousands of their supporters protested against the national dialogue, demanding that their region be seceded from the north.
Protesters carrying placards saying, "No dialogue under occupation!, Independence is our choice!" demonstrated in the port city of Aden waving flags of the formerly independent South Yemen which was united with the north in 1990.
"We are here by the thousands to reject the dialogue as it is an issue of northerners and those southerners who are involved in it do not represent the people," Khaled Junaidi, an activist told AFP.
The hardliners also held a six-hour general strike in Aden, capital of the formerly independent south.
Several anti-dialogue slogans and calls for the secession of the south were smeared on walls of many buildings, while flags of the former South Yemen were displayed in parts of the city.
On February 15, the United Nations voiced support for the national dialogue and threatened sanctions against any party impeding the talks, mainly referring to Saleh and Baid.
Despite his ouster, Saleh remains head of the formerly ruling General People's Congress Party (GPC).
But a source from the dialogue's preparatory committee told AFP that he will not represent his party at the talks, in which it has been granted the lion's share of seats with 112 representatives.
In addition to the southern question, Zaidi Shiite rebels, who have mounted repeated uprisings in the far north since 2004, have clashed with Sunni Salafists in northern Yemen. They are both taking part in the dialogue.
But influential tribal chief Hamid al-Ahmar, who heads the powerful Sunni Islamist Al-Islah (reform) Party, will not represent his party at the conference in protest against the Zaidis being handed most seats representing the northern Saada province, organisers said.
The Southern Movement is represented at the talks by 85 seats while the Zaidi rebels have 35 representatives.
18 Mar, 2013
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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/18/Yemen-begins-national-reconciliation-talks-amid-protests.html
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