Tampering doubts over Benomar's plane

The technical staff of Yemen's southern airport of Aden discovered technical problems in the plane that was supposed to take the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar back to the capital Sanaa, sources in the airport told Arabstoday. The sources said that the airport's technical staff discovered that one of the plane's engines was not working, but they were able to fix it and the plane took off on time. The airport authority opened an investigation on the case over suspects that the engine was deliberately disabled. The UN Envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar met with senior leaders of the Southern Movement in Aden on Wednesday. Local sources cited that the meeting focused on the participation of the Southern Movement in the national dialogue to help raise the southern case at the conference. They said Benomar considered the conference as a good opportunity for the southerners, pointing out that leaders had put forward a number of conditions and demands. Conditions included 50 per cent of seats in the conference, in addition to the release of southern political detainees and stopping any arrests against southerners. Some factions of the Southern Movement such as the followers of the former president Ali Salem Al-Beedh and other groups boycotted the meeting.