Yemen's separatists want to see a Sudan-style referendum on southern secession if demonstrations seeking to end the three-decade rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh succeed, a senior separatist leader said on March 2.

A senior member in the Southern Movement, Yassin Ahmad Saleh Qadish was a member of the socialist party that ran south Yemen until 1990 when it negotiated unification with the tribal, more conservative north, thenational.ae reported.

Mr Qadish, a former diplomat, said: "The south will push for a referendum after Saleh falls. It is a mass demand."