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Yemen: Southern Movement will not return to national dialogue, says source | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi speaks during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova, Pool)


Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi speaks during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova, Pool)

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi speaks during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova, Pool)

Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s Southern Mobility Movement will refuse to return to the National Dialogue Conference, according to a source in the organization, although the chair of the conference said it would return in the near future

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that following consultative meetings held in Aden between factions of the movement, the group “will not return to the conference in the current phase.”

The movement has been absent from the conference sessions since they resumed a few days ago.

The source added that the movement is adhering to a number of the president’s demands, notably to “move what remains of the dialogue’s interlocutors abroad, as has been agreed, and provide [the North] with . . . a vision similar to that of the South, to resolve the Southern issue.”

“If we go back to Sana’a, it will not be for the dialogue conference, but to consult and discuss the future of the national dialogue and the Southern issue in general with these diplomatic parties,” the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In contrast, the secretary-general of the National Dialogue Conference, Dr. Ahmed bin Mubarak, announced that Southern parties would return to participate in the national dialogue in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reaffirmed its support for the ongoing political reconciliation process in Yemen.

The announcement came as a number of Western countries reopened their embassies in the capital, and after the president of Yemen, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, met the United Kingdom’s new ambassador to Yemen, Jane Marriott, in Sana’a on Sunday.

During the meeting, they reviewed a number of issues relating to political reconciliation in Yemen, based on the Gulf Initiative and the measures for its implementation.

President Hadi said that the successes that have been achieved by implementing the framework of the Gulf Initiative have been exceptional, and have spared Yemen from disastrous war and partition.

The British ambassador called for Yemen to overcome the remaining difficulties, stressing that the entire international community is supporting the country.

In turn, the head of the GCC’s mission to Yemen, Saad Al-Arify, emphasized that the Gulf States are keen to continue providing support, in order to strengthen the political process in Yemen.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he praised what has been achieved so far with regards to implementing the Gulf Initiative. He also said that he believed Yemenis will be able to overcome any obstacles to the National Dialogue Conference—and any other issues—after having overcome the difficulties of last two years.

Arify also met President Hadi on Sunday to discuss political developments and to convey a message from the president of the GCC, Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Zayani, expressing the GCC president’s deep appreciation of the successes that have been achieved within the framework of the Gulf Initiative.

In his message, Zayani also affirmed the GCC’s “support to Yemen in the success of the transitional period, in accordance with the Gulf Initiative and the measures for its implementation,” reported the Yemeni news agency Saba.