[سفيان]

Key south Yemen opposition leader still held: son

ADEN, Dec 16, 2010 (AFP) - The main leader in Yemen of the southern opposition movement whose release was announced last week is still in detention, one of his sons told AFP on Thursday.
A security official had said on Friday that Hassan Baoum, his son Fawaz and two other detainees had been freed on orders from "the highest level."
Another of Baoum's sons, Fadi, had confirmed the release, saying: "I have spoken to my father by phone, who said he and the other three were at the home of the Ibb prison's chief for dinner" and that they had been freed.
But Fawaz told AFP that he and his father are still being detained at the prison in central Yemen, though their conditions had improved and they had outside contact, presumably by telephone.
According to information in the local press, Baoum had refused to sign a written commitment to work for the unity of Yemen.
Baoum, who heads the supreme council of the Southern Movement which wants either independence or increased autonomy, was arrested with five others on November 9 at an army checkpoint, an official said at the time.
He had added that the opposition leader was "planning to hold unauthorised protests in a number of southern provinces."
Two of those arrested with Baoum at the checkpoint outside the town of Daleh were freed two weeks ago after tribal mediation.
Many residents of south Yemen, which was independent from 1967 when the British withdrew until it was united with the north in 1990, complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the distribution of resources.
The south seceded in 1994, sparking a brief civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.
In a Southern Movement statement received by AFP, the movement announced that Aidarous Ahmed Haqqis would command the movement until Baoum is freed.
str-wak/at/wd/afq

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