The European Union Ambassador to Yemen Bettina Muscheidt will hold meetings with southern Yemeni leaders including Ali Nasser Mohammad, a former southern president, and Haidar al-Atass, a former prime minister in Cairo, Yemeni sources have affirmed. Yemeni minister said Muscheidt that the meetings aim at persuading the southern leaders to take part in the imminent national dialogue conference . Yemeni media sources had stated that the dialogue conference appointment will be postponed with the aim of persuading more southern leaders to participate.
The sources said the states that adopted the GCC-brokered power transfer deal told three former president that they reject any secessionist trends.
The meeting comes amid anticipation that exiled southern leaders will come back to Yemen to take part in the national dialogue conference. Media sources had said that guarantees were presented to the leaders, pointing out that they and their families will be given a complete security protection and that they will be allowed to practice their political life freely under Yemen's constitution.They also said that the leaders were ensured that the dialogue will have no a ceiling and that the southern case will be among priorities of the dialogue's agenda.The sources quoted an assistant of Benomar as saying that the UN Envoy did not meet with any exiled leaders and that he conducted intense contacts with them. They further said that remarkable progress were achieved in communication with senior leaders including Ali Nasser Mohammad, a former southern president and Haidar Abu Bakar Al-Atass, a former prime minister