Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi arrived in Aden on a surprise visit to the main city in troubled southern Yemen, state news agency Saba reported on Sunday morning.
The visit, Hadi's first since taking office almost a year ago, comes after three days of clashes between supporters of the secessionist Southern Movement, security forces and the pro-unity Islamist Islah party, DPA reported.
Saba said Hadi arrived on Saturday in the economic and commercial capital Aden on a tour of inspection of the province. The agency said during the visit he would make sure that all administrative, developmental and economic duties were being properly performed.
Clashes started when security forces fired on pro-independence demonstrators in Aden on Thursday, killing four. In the following days protestors burned offices of the Islah party and clashed with security forces.
The Southern Movement calls for independence or autonomy for the former Marxist republic of South Yemen, which merged with more populous and conservative North Yemen in 1990.
Southerners have complained of discrimination and official neglect since southern forces lost a brief 1994 civil war.
The movement has come under heavy international pressure to take part in the upcoming National Dialogue Conference along with the country's other political forces.
Due to start on March 18, the conference is a key phase in Yemen's internationally backed transition process, a year after former president Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down.