Salem al-Beidh boycotts Cairo meeting as Hadi postpones dialogue

UN Secretary-General's Advisor Jamal Bin Omar Jamal Bin Omar, the UN Secretary-General's Advisor and Envoy to Yemen, began talks with over 30 exiled Hirak figures Friday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Former President of Southern Yemen, Ali Salem al-Beidh was conspicuously absent from the talks. Al-Beidh had previously demanded the dissolution of the union with Northern Yemen and the reformation of the Southern state. The talks are held amid fears that Bin Omar’s mission may hit a brick wall. The UN envoy has recently warned against the situation in Yemen reverting to square one with the failure of the Dialogue Conference.
Informed sources have told Arabstoday that meetings began Friday in Cairo between Bin Omar and senior members of separatist South Yemen Movement Hirak. The talks are aimed at persuading the Hirak officials to take part in the National Dialogue Conference which will now be delayed. The conference was set to be held under United Nation supervision and set to be sponsored by the five permanent member states of the UN Security Council as well as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
Bin Omar had made statements before heading for Cairo in which he warned against failure to move forward. The UN enjoy said that the next few months were “decisive” with the transitional process either succeeding or the situation in Yemen reverting to “square one”.
The United Nations official also referred to the important role played by the Security Council and the international community in general. Calling for more global attention at this critical phase of Yemen’s history, Bin Omar also expressed guarded optimism in light of advances already made. A year ago, he said, the country was on the verge of civil war, and now the situation is developing in the direction of dialogue in a political process that he said “everybody” would take part it.
Sources revealed to Arabstoday that the Yemeni President, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi will postpone the National Dialogue Conference. The event was set to be held in mid-November but will now be delayed until a later date. Sharp conflicts of opinion have thus arisen among exiled Hirak figures convening now in Cairo over the participation in the Dialogue Conference.The current - headed by Ali Salem al-Beidh - is said to have extremist views, also evident by al-Beidh's refusal to attend the meetings. Personal correspondence between al-Beidh and previous President of Southern Yemen, Ali Nasser Mohammed, have revealed a vast schism, leading to al-Beidh boycotting the meeting with the UN official after sources said he had agreed to attend.
Al-Beidh insists on the dissolution of the Yemeni state and recreation of the South Yemeni state of which he was once president.
A 1990 declaration of unity had led to the outbreak of a destructive war in 1994. The war, which strengthened Ali Abdullah Saleh’s hold on power as president of a united Yemen, ended with defeat for the south. Al-Beidh fled along with Southern leaders from the Socialist Party as Saleh remained in power until he was ousted by a wave of protests similar to those that had crashed through a number of other Arab countries in 2011.
Sources close to President Hadi now expect him to make an official announcement postponing the conference until further notice. The same sources also expect Hadi to issue a presidential decree appointing a new date for the conference. The delay is set to give the preparatory committee time to complete procedures, while also allowing Hirak one last chance to make a final decision on attending a conference held on the basis of national unity rather than dissolution.
Sources also predicted that Bin Omar will be able to reach an agreement over participation with Hirak factions led by Haydar Ghattas. There are doubts, however, that the UN envoy will be able to persuade al-Beidh. Al-Beidh, sources say, sees himself as the legitimate representative of the South as he is also accused of being backed by Iran and implementing Tehran’s agenda for the region. Sources fear this may indeed be the true reason behind his hard-line attitude towards taking part in the prospective dialogue on a platform of national unity.