Returned South Yemen Leader: 'Peaceful Struggle' May Yet Win
Mohammed Ali Ahmed, a former South Yemeni leader who recently returned from exile, survived an assassination attempt on September 10. Al-Monitor's Farea al-Muslimi interviewed Ahmed, who rarely speaks and remains mostly in seclusion, earlier this summer on topics ranging from al-Qaeda to South Yemen’s prospects for independence.
On Monday in Yemen’s eastern province of Hadramout, a bomb exploded outside a gathering of southern Yemeni leaders. The detonation was premature and there were no casualties.
Inside the meeting sat the target of the assassination attempt: Mohammed Ali Ahmed, a South Yemeni leader who returned to the country in March after 18 years of exile in Britain. Ahmed fled the country after South Yemen lost the 1994 Yemeni civil war. In a July 12 interview with Al-Monitor, Ahmed said “peaceful struggle” is the way for southern Yemenis to achieve their rights. But Ahmed did not forswear returning to violence to achieve his goals.
