Unrest in Yemen is on the rise as police keeps on arresting secessionist supporters. Up to 80 people have been detained by Yemeni authorities after two policemen were killed, roads blocked and shops managed by northern Yemen assaulted.

Protests by pro-independence militants and subsequent detentions are common in Yemen particularly since 2007. From that year on voices claiming for ties between the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) and the Yemen Arab Republic (North) to dissolve have increased.

Many Southern Yemenis argue they are being mistreated and their natural resources abused by Sana'a, as most of the Yemeni oil is extracted there. Last week a pro-independence leader of the Southern Movement announced he was to launch a new peaceful uprising or intifada.

South-Yemeni secessionism is not the only destabilizing factor in Yemen, as the country is also affected by Al-Qaeda infiltration and the conflict with Shiite insurgence in the north.

Further information:

• Reuters: Yemen arrests 80 separatists over southern unrest
• VOAnews.com: Arrests, Detentions, Death in Yemen's Southern Conflict
• MónDivers: Tensió en augment al Iemen del Sud, amb l’arrest de 80 independentistes