The Head of the south Yemen Movement, Ali Salim al-Beidh Sanaa – Ali Rabea The Head of the south Yemen Movement, Ali Salim al-Beidh, called for the separation of south Yemen, after returning from exile. He stated that it was vital to reclaim what he called the “south side” and disengage from the regime in Sanaa. Al-Beidh refused to recognise the dialogue conference, which the Sanaa government prepared for, with international sponsorship saying: “The negotiation that we will accept and welcome as a south nation is negotiation on an equal rivalry basis between our occupied country where the south state will be named the Democratic Republic of Yemen, and the occupation state as the Arab Republic of Yemen under regional or international sponsorship.”
He also added that any negotiation that will not lead to what he called “disengagement” and the return of complete sovereignty to the south state will not be accepted and stressed that “the struggle will continue until independence.”
Al-Beidh was the last president to south Yemen before it became a merged unity in 1990. He then became vice president to the former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Al-Beidh fled abroad with key leaders in the Yemeni Socialist Party in 1994 following their defeat in the war they waged to bring back separation between north Yemen and south Yemen.