Bin Daghr accuses separatists of coup

SANA’A: Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr yesterday accused separatists pushing for the secession of the southern part of the strife-ravaged country of attempting a coup against his government.

The new front only deepens the misery in a country that has been locked for nearly four years in a devastating feud between the Saudi-backed government and Iranian-allied Houthi rebels, who control the capital, Sana’a. “In Sana’a, the coup against the republic is being deepened. Here in Aden, a coup against legitimacy and the federal state is under way,” the prime minister said on Facebook.

“No honest person in Yemen should stay silent on serious, destabilising practices in Aden.” The accusation came as clashes intensified between government forces and separatist gunmen in the southern city of Aden leaving at least one person dead, local medical officials said.

Eight others were injured in the fight, which started after government forces loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi prevented separatist rallies in Aden, officials said. Separatists later seized a government building and a military outpost in Aden’s district of Khor Maksar, local security sources said. The violence comes after the expiration of a deadline by southern secessionists for Hadi to replace the government, which they call corrupt.

Last year, Aidarus al-Zubaidi, a former Aden governor, declared the creation of the self-styled Southern Transitional Council, a body pushing for the secession of southern Yemen from the north. – dpa