Armed southern activists have closed down a main highway in Yemen, holiday travelers said on Friday, in a resurgence of separatist protests against the government.
Travelers said dozens of people leaving for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha were stranded on the road joining the capital and the main southern port of Aden after gunmen from the Southern Movement stopped all traffic late on Thursday.
Five Yemenis died in clashes on Wednesday between security forces and southern separatists, who say the northern-based government marginalizes and discriminates against the south, home to most of Yemen's oil facilities.
Increasing numbers of the displaced and residents are seeking our assistance, and we have just had to open a new camp
Yemen, an impoverished country of 23 million, also faces a revolt by Shiite Muslims in the north while al-Qaeda militants carried out attacks in the last two years.
In Geneva, the Red Cross said it had helped set up a new camp for people fleeing the war in the north.
"Increasing numbers of the displaced and residents are seeking our assistance, and we have just had to open a new camp," Irfan Sulejmani, an ICRC official in the northern province of Saada, said in a statement. The camp will eventually be able to host 1,000 internally displaced people, he said.
The fighting in Saada province has displaced 175,000 people, according to the United Nations.
The Shiite rebels say they are fighting social, economic and religious marginalization by the Sanaa authorities and accuse Sunni neighbor Saudi Arabia of backing the government.
Saudi Arabia launched an assault on the rebels earlier this month after they staged a cross-border raid that killed two Saudi border guards.
Saudi Arabia said late on Thursday nine of its soldiers are missing in the fighting. The Yemeni rebels have posted on the Internet videos of several captured Saudi soldiers.
U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, fears the growing instability in neighboring Yemen could turn into a major security threat for the kingdom by allowing al-Qaeda to re-launch operations there.
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