DAMASCUS: President Qahtan al-Shaabi of South Yemen Republic on Tuesday [May 14] night announced that anti-Government elements had seized control of three areas in the former British colony in a full-fledged rebellion against his regime.

In an address to the nation over Radio Aden carried in text by UAR’s Middle East News Agency, Mr Shaabi said he had ordered Government troops to march on the rebel headquarters to end the insurrection.

Mr Shaabi reported that many people were killed and wounded in savage fighting prior to the seizure of three areas by the rebels.

He claimed the rebels staged massive arrests among Government officials and leading members of his ruling National Liberation Front (NLF) in troubled regions. He said these were mainly Abeen, Somatra and Zingibar, adding that the rebels had set up headquarters in the town of Kaar.

He said the rebels disarmed NLF members of the People’s Corps in these areas, subjected non-NLF guardsmen to the rebel command and massed tribal warriors in Abeen and Somatra. He named five men as leaders of the rebellion without defining their political background.

President Shaabi told his people that the army had been mobilised and was on their way to the rebel-held areas where an explosive, anarchical situation had arisen.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2018