Cell phone companies were ordered to cut services by Yemeni authorities in parts of the south where the government is fighting a violent secessionist movement.

The Yemen Post reported that "owing to the commonwealth and security requirements," Communications Minister Kamal Hussein al-Jabri ordered cell phone companies in 14 districts in the southern provinces of Lahj and Dhale to cut service.

An audience at a military academy in Sanaa was told by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Tuesday that he was open to dialogue, opening the door to a national committee with southern separatists.

Civil war in 1994 unsettled the unification of North and south Yemen which were united in 1990. Though Sanaa is holding to a cease-fire agreement with Houthi rebels in the north, violence has escalated between government forces and southern secessionist fighters.

The Yemen Post report further said that Government troops imposed a barrier around parts of southern Yemen earlier this week in an effort to "thwart unauthorized demonstrations."