☰

Global

Two dead in new clashes in troubled south Yemen


    SANAA (Reuters) - Two people died and four were wounded in clashes on Monday between security forces and protesters in south Yemen, where secessionist sentiment is strong, a medical source said.

    The deaths bring the toll to 11 civilians and 11 soldiers killed in such clashes in the south since early May, according to witnesses and an official government statement.

    People in the south, home to most of Yemen's oil facilities, have long complained that northerners abused a unity agreement to grab their resources and discriminate against them.

    The clashes in Radfan in Lahej province, which took place as mourners gathered to bury six people who they say died in the recent clashes with security forces, were also reported by Qatar-based pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera.

    The Arab world's poorest country, Yemen is also struggling with an on-off revolt in the north and intensified al Qaeda militancy. The United States has reacted to unrest in the south by urging an end to violence it said could sap Yemen's unity.

    If Yemen tipped further into instability, this could endanger its neighbours, especially Saudi Arabia, and complicate efforts to combat al Qaeda and protect international shipping routes from piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

    An adviser to President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Reuters this week the country of 23 million could suffer famine next year.

    (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Thomas Atkins)