Yemeni Separatists Flaunt Stars and Stripes

[madmom]

ADEN, Yemen (March 6) -- Sheikh Abdu Alrib al-Naqib, a gray-haired separatist leader from Yemen's rural south, sat on his couch in this ramshackle port city, waving two American flags and humming an approximate version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"We love America," he said, grinning beneath his cream-colored turban. "We are not terrorists. We only want our human rights and our freedom from the authoritarian regime in the north."....

....The Yemeni government accuses the separatists of being terrorists associated with al-Qaida. Separatist leaders deny the association and are working to dispel that image -- hence the American flags and all that humming of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Supporters of the separatist movement accuse the Yemeni government, based in the north, of robbing the south of its resources -- including its lucrative oil fields and ports -- while systematically discriminating against southern provinces when it distributes public resources like schools and hospitals. Dissatisfaction with the government is nearly universal among the southern population. While not everyone supports separation, nostalgia for the independent South Yemen, a Marxist republic, and even the days of British colonialism runs high....

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/yemeni-separatists-flaunt-stars-and-stripes/19385514