Crossword Genius

Agreeable blokes leaving southern state (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

yemen

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'southern state' is the definition.
'yemen' can be an answer for 'state' (Yemen is an example). I'm not certain of the 'southern' bit.

'agreeable blokes' is the wordplay.
'agreeable' becomes 'ye' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'blokes' becomes 'men' (I've seen this in another clue).
'ye'+'men'='YEMEN'

'leaving' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for yemen that I've seen before include "Country bordering Oman" , "Arabian republic, capital Sanaa" , "Country to south of Saudi Arabia" , "Republic on the Arabian Peninsula" , "Enemy (anag) - country of Arabia" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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