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Days after the Southern Movement announced its withdrawal from the NDC (National Dialogue Conference) the coalition government issued a public apology on behalf of the former regime in regards to 1994, when Sana'a armed forces crushed former south Yemen's calls for independence.
“The government apologizes for the war of the summer of 1994 and what the previous government did against the southerners, considering that a historic mistake that cannot be repeated,” read the televised Wednesday statement.
The statement also included an official apology to all residents of Sa'ada (northern province of Yemen) for the various campaigns the Yemeni armed forces conducted on its land as it sought to destroy the Houthis rebellion.
This national Mea Culpa essentially aims to put to rest old grievances and allow Yemen as a republican institution to move forward united following months of in-fighting and political fragmentation.
However while many politicians welcomed the move, noting that the coalition government had now fulfilled all its promises made under 2012 power transfer agreement, key players, such as Ali Hassan Zaki, the head of the southern movement, expressed some reservations.
“What was agreed on in the national reconciliation talks is that a formal apology to the south is made by the political parties that took part in the ‘94 war,” he told the Associated Press.
The Southern Movement argued that for any apology to be receivable it should be uttered by the very officials who carried out and authorized the attacks, essentially the former regime's men. Moreover, Harakis have warned that unless the issue of land confiscations is addressed in a satisfactory manner and all former officials involved in corruption cases removed from office, negotiations will stall