Between Yesterday’s And Today’s Occupations… Aden Celebrates Its “Independence”

In the 53rd anniversary of the independence of Aden and the southern Yemeni governorates from the British occupation, the Yemenis commemorated it amid a bloody war by the Saudi-led coalition.

Britain’s interest in Yemen dates back to the 17th century AD, before it occupied the south in 1839, focusing on Aden, Socotra and Bab al-Mandab, which control the maritime navigation route between the East and the West.

The British occupation worked to tear apart Yemen, dividing it in order to preserve UK’s gains in Yemeni lands.

Britain also promoted in 1952 the establishment of two federal entities, according to the administrative division, and their unification in a new state called the “Federal State of South Arabia.”

However, Aden, with its strategic location overlooking the Gulf coast and the Arabian Sea in the south of the country, has remained coveted by the occupying forces, most recently the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. They have turned it into a battlefield, suffering from the security crisis in most of the governorate’s districts, which are controlled by the Southern Transitional Council.

Since the entry of its forces into Aden in 2015, the UAE has been trying to re-implement the British scenario to divide Yemen, creating a region that extends from Hodeida in the western coast to Aden in the south with the separation of Hadhramaut and Al-Mahrah as an eastern region, and keeping the south and north of Yemen in a permanent conflict.

However, the governors of the southern governorates believed that the fate of the Saudi and Emirati forces of aggression would be worse than the fate of the “British colonialist,” noting that “Yemen’s struggle history is full of surprises, revolutions and sacrifices.”

The governor of Aden, Tariq Salam, said, “The occupier today is no less criminal than the occupier of yesterday, it surpasses it with criminality and brutality.”

Contrary to the promises of the coalition forces, the occupied territories were not subject to the development and investment, but were subjected to further destruction and turmoil. According to the United Nations, Aden suffers from the worst security situation among the Yemeni governorates, due to the absence of a strong security institution in the city, and the growing action of organized groups and gangs.

Translated from: Al-Mayadeen