Yemen secession leader returns after 12-year exile

ADEN, Sep 13 (Reuters) A leader of a failed secessionist rebellion in Yemen returned home today under an amnesty after 12 years in exile.

Abdul Rahman al-Jifri, a vice-president of a short-lived breakaway government in South Yemen in 1994, flew to the southern port of Aden from Saudi Arabia along with several fellow exiles.

''The current phase calls on everyone to join forces to strengthen and develop the practice of democracy and to ensure that upcoming elections are a success,'' Jifri told reporters in Aden.

Jifri was among 16 secessionist leaders tried in absentia and sentenced to death or prison. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled the impoverished country since 1990, has issued an amnesty, prompting many exiles to return.

Yemen is due to hold municipal and presidential polls on September 20, in which Saleh is expected to be re-elected.

Reuters VJ RN021