Yemen’s Unity Threatened by Foreign Aggression

نشر في May 23, 2023

As we approach the anniversary of the glorious Unity Day, the situation in Yemen is worse than in previous years. The Saudi-Emirati occupation still looms over the southern and eastern provinces of Yemen, with their mercenaries continuously working to deepen the state of division and fragmentation in our country.

The United States, Britain, and the coalition of aggression seek to sabotage peace negotiations and disavow their commitment to the rights of the people and the nation. They do this by targeting Yemeni unity, fueling conflict, and supporting militias to speak on behalf of the south. The Western conspiracy to divide Yemen, led by the United States and Britain, with UN cooperation to target Yemeni unity, is now exposed and clear. We cannot accept or compromise on even an inch of Yemen’s land, as affirmed by the revolutionary, political, and military leadership in Sana’a.

In this context, the governor of Aden, Tarek Salam, says that what the mercenaries are trying to ignore is that the real and correct project for what is called the declaration of secession is completely absent, and they have no ability to provide any necessary data or indicators to achieve what is called secession. He explains that the most important of these is providing the objective and self-determined conditions for the revolutionary movement of liberation, which has declined significantly in the southern provinces since 2017.

Salam adds in a statement to Al-Masirah newspaper that due to the bad experience and negative image of the administration presented by the Transitional Council affiliated with the Emirati occupation during its control of the occupied provinces, a southern popular base was created that rejects secession. He points out that the occupier was able to tear apart the social structure and national cohesion in the occupied southern and eastern provinces, which in turn contributed to hindering the project of restoring the unity of the south and its cause and injustice that it has been suffering from for decades. As a result, the so-called Transitional Council was used to pass its criminal plan to destroy the southern social fabric and push it to practice bad behaviors such as regionalism, repulsive racism, and violations against other southern forces, and to present a bad model of administration. This has deprived the southern cause of its value and made it occupied by external forces that want to exploit it and loot its wealth, both internally through mercenaries and externally through foreign powers.

Salam confirms that the current events in the occupied southern and eastern provinces indicate that the Saudi-Emirati occupier, with direct orders from the global arrogance powers, the United States, Britain, and “Israel,” are seeking, by all possible and available means, to undermine Yemen’s unity and tear apart its occupied southern provinces, after their abysmal failure to achieve any goals for their brutal aggression on Yemen for nine years.

He adds, “The malicious efforts and hidden movements of the global powers in Yemen are not hidden from anyone after everyone saw the arrival of foreign and Western forces to the occupied provinces during the past years and working to seize the most important sensitive strategic sites in them to ensure their safety and achieve their interests and ambitions. This is done by supporting armed militias and mercenaries to expand and control most of the important provinces rich in oil and gas, so that the occupier can put his hand on them and benefit from their revenues to finance his plans and divisive projects in Yemen, which ensure his freedom in controlling the most important international waterways represented by the coasts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.”

Threat to Yemen’s Unity

The foreign aggression and occupation target Yemen and all Yemenis, with the south being targeted before the north. The current plan of the occupation is to further fragment Yemen, starting with the south, rather than pushing for a secession project. All the facts on the ground confirm this, and the risks today are greater than before, given the successive economic, social, political, and military crises that have been eroding the unified Yemen until today.

Political analyst Anas Al-Qadi believes that the future of Yemen’s unity is uncertain from a political perspective, regarding what local and foreign parties may propose. However, on a social and economic level, the bonds of Yemeni unity are strong, and unity is the result of a historical context that dates back to the 1950s. Therefore, it is the future of the Yemeni nation.

Al-Qadi emphasizes in a statement to Al-Masirah newspaper that we must recognize that the threat to Yemen’s unity is not new, nor is it only from the “Transitional Council” and the UAE. Yemen’s unity has been threatened since the summer war of 1994, but the risks today are greater, as there are regional and international parties pushing for secession. In reality, these forces are not pushing for a return to pre-May 22, 1990, but rather for the division of southern Yemen and its return to pre-1967 unity.

He confirms that true national partnership, Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue, democracy, citizenship, and justice are the only ones capable of protecting the unity of the Yemeni people and nation. The urgent and effective task today is not to confront secession, but to reform the problems of unity.

For his part, political and military analyst Ahmed Al-Zubairi confirms that Yemen’s unity has a historical context, and the conspiracies against it also have a historical path. When the Yemeni people expelled colonialism, they were all fighting against it, from the north, south, east, and west. When independence came, there was a coup on November 5 in the north, and a Saudi-affiliated agent authority came under guardianship.

Al-Zubairi adds in a statement to Al-Masirah newspaper that in the south, they turned towards extremist directions and wanted to unify Yemen in the way they wanted, where there were wars, conflicts, sedition, fighting, and fronts. Therefore, the conspiracy against Yemen’s unity is old, especially from neighboring Saudi Arabia, as well as from America and Britain. Britain wants to settle scores with all of Yemen, which defeated it on Independence Day, and is now working to divide Yemen.

He confirms that the future of Yemen’s unity is linked to the will of all Yemenis. If Yemenis stand against these conspiracies and regain every inch of their land, unity will remain. However, if there is any compromise, there will be no unity, and Yemen will be divided not only into two parts but into many small states. Therefore, we must all recognize this threat.

He points out that the American-Saudi aggression on Yemen has goals, including those that could not be achieved smoothly through the dialogue conference, such as dividing regions into federal regions that are subject to division and independence, dividing the army, and establishing six states.

“Today, they are seeking the same thing through this aggression. Aden will be a state, Al-Mahra will be a state, Socotra will be a state, Hadramout will be a state, and what they called the ‘Western Protectorate’ will be a state,” he said, adding that “unity is a guarantee of stability for this country’s development, but it needs a state, a system, and a law, and it needs equal citizenship for all Yemenis. It also needs rights, not looting or oppression of others’ rights.”