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| Yemen ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْيَمَنِيَّةُ | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Sanaa |
| Official languages | Arabic |
| Government | Provisional government |
• Chairman | Mahdi al-Mashat |
| Area | |
• Total | 555,000 km² |
| Population | |
• 2021 estimate | 30,491,000 |
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in Western Asia, south of Saudi Arabia. It was formed in 1990 when the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) annexed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Yemen's capital of Sanaa is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Due to the imperialist invasion by the USA, UK, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, Yemen is currently facing a severe malnutrition crisis, with 400,000 children facing death, in addition to a cholera epidemic.[1] On average, a civilian is killed or wounded every hour.[2] The revolutionary coalition led by Ansarullah controls the former territory of North Yemen, which holds 80% of the country's population.[1]
History[edit | edit source]
Mutawakkilite Imamate and Aden Colony[edit | edit source]
The British invaded Aden in 1839 and ruled in southern Yemen until 1967.[3]
Hereditary ruling Imams took over in northern Yemen after Ottoman withdrawal in 1918. Seated in Sanaa, the Imams (Yahia until 1948, Ahmed until 1962, and Badr for a short period in September 1962) constantly had to deal with opposition forces insisting on democracy and modernization. The Imams violently suppressed these opposition forces until Imam Badr was deposed by a pan-Arabist, Nasserist military coup.[4]
Nationalist revolution and civil war[edit | edit source]
On the 25th of September 1962, the Yemeni military overthrew the monarchy in Sanaa, leading to a civil war between republicans and royalists. The British, Saudis, and USA supported the royalists, and the Soviet Union, Egypt, and United Arab Republic supported the republicans.[3] At the same time, they supported a rebellion in the Dhofar province of Oman.[5] In Sana'a, rightist republicans won out over left wing factions and conciliated with the royalists. The Yemen Arab Republic excised the Mutawakkili Imams in 1962, but retained the other monarchist political elements in the new republic.[6]
According to former CIA case officer Robert Baer, the US government gave approval to funnel support for the Muslim Brotherhood against the more progressive republicans. This follows in the longstanding tradition of US government interventions in West Asia, where right-wing Islamists are used as proxy forces against progressives and secular nationalists. Washington's support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s, along with Operation Cyclone in the 1980s, set the stage for al-Qaeda's destabilizing presence in the region up to the present day.[7][3]
Egypt withdrew its forces from Yemen in 1967 after the Six Day War.[3]
North-South Division, 1967-1990[edit | edit source]
Marxists took power in South Yemen in 1967, leading the Saudis to fund anti-communists in Yemen and Oman, specifically forces in the Muslim Brotherhood who would eventually become AQAP.[5][7]
The British handed power over to the Marxist NLF forces in opposition to the more Nasserist Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY). This acquiescence was due to British ignorance of Marxist influence in the NLF and hatred of Nasserism. Leftist forces within the NLF quickly outmaneuvered and expelled its internal right wing factions in a "corrective step" in 1969. The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was declared in 1970.[6]
The YAR and PDRY were marked with internal and regional instability throughout Yemen's period of North-South division. External factors like Saudi Arabia and other western-backed neighbors informed the conflicts within and between the two Yemens.
The Marxists inherited a poor, underdeveloped agricultural and fishing economy. Agricultural workers in the arable coastal plains were sharecroppers for powerful local landowners. The poor economic conditions were exacerbated by the 1967 closure of the Suez Canal, which deprived Aden of its traditional port activities. The economy shrank by 10-15 percent and tens of thousands of Yemenis emigrated. Because of the immigration of landowners, the NLF was able to nationalize private lands and hand them over to sharecroppers.[6]
Almost all commercial and industrial operations in the PDRY were nationalized and development policies were enacted in agriculture, fishing, and infrastructure. In 1967, there were only 126 kilometers of paved roads in the PDRY, mainly in Aden and Hadramaut. The socialist revolution eventually expanded these roads to link Aden with Mukalla, Abyan, Shabwa, and Wadi Hadramaut.[6]
The YAR and PDRY undertook two wars across their border in 1972 and 1979, both of which ended with Arab League-mediated agreements to unify the country. In 1972, factions of South Yemeni exiles invaded the PDRY, backed by Saudi Arabia and the YAR. The PDRY quickly neutralized the poorly organized and divided exiles and gained the upper hand after only a few weeks of fighting. At the ceasefire talks in Cairo, the PDRY demanded that the YAR sever ties with Saudi Arabia and make progressive reforms before unification could be considered. These reforms never happened, but the two countries nevertheless agreed to a ceasefire and mutual withdrawal of troops. Saudi Arabia themselves opposed the unity agreement. Pro-Saudi forces ousted the YAR leaders most committed to the unity agreement, and relations between the two Yemens again worsened shortly after the negotiated ceasefire. Prime Minister al-Hajri's formal, permanent cession of the 'Asir, Najran, and Jizan territories to Saudi Arabia inflamed nationalist sentiment and opened the way for pro-South forces, like the United National Front of South Yemen, to advance within the YAR.[8][9]
Successive governments in the YAR vacillated between support and opposition to Saudi influence. Bretton Woods institutions steadily increased their own influence over the North. The YAR underwent another military coup in 1974, bringing the popular Ibrahim al-Hamdi to power. Hamdi was assassinated in 1977, and then his successor al-Ghashmi was assassinated by exploding briefcase in 1978. The YAR found stability throughout the subsequent Ali Abdullah Saleh presidency, which lasted through reunification with the South until 2012. Saleh's survival is attributable to support from the Saudis through periods of economic instability and through canny political maneuvering with his "patronage" system of maintaining support and dependence.[6]
Top leadership in the PDRY's NLF (Prime Minister Ali Nasser Mohammed and Secretary General Abdul Fattah Ismail) blamed President Salem Ruba'i Ali for al-Ghashmi's death and subsequently executed him in 1978. According to Ali Nasser Mohammed, Ruba'i Ali was killed to avoid war with the YAR. Nonetheless, a short border war broke out in 1979.[10]
Soviet-aligned Abdul Fattah Ismail consolidated both state executive and party control with the founding of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) and the passing of a new constitution by referendum. This was short-lived, as the Politburo dismissed Abdul Fattah in 1980 over his consolidation of power, Abdul Fattah's lack of roots in the South, and his opposition to the Second PDRY-YAR War. The 1980 party congress elected Ali Nasser Mohammed as Secretary General and President, in addition to the Prime Minister position he held since 1971. Abdul Fattah fled to the Soviet Union, citing "medical reasons." President Ali Nasser came to dominate the PDRY until his ouster in 1986.[10] He liberalised the economy, relaxed many collectivist policies, and warmed relations with the West and western-backed neighbors.[6]
The same elements of the Politburo formerly opposed to Abdul Fattah, specifically Ali Antar, subsequently turned against Ali Nasser and encouraged Abdul Fattah's return. Abdul Fattah returned from exile in 1985. On 13 January, 1986, tensions between the Ali Nasser faction and those of Ali Antar and Abdul Fattah came to a head. Ali Nasser's bodyguards assassinated Ali Antar and four other members of the Politburo. Abdul Fattah survived and was able to escape. A twelve day civil war followed, with thousands of casualties. Abdul Fattah was killed in the subsequent fighting, and Ali Nasser was defeated and forced to flee to the YAR.[10] The last four years of the PDRY were marked by a decline in socialist policies reflective of the absence of the YSP's main personalities and the general decline and disengagement of the Soviet bloc.[6]
1990 Reunification[edit | edit source]
Following the annexation of the PDRY headquartered in Aden, Ali Abdullah Saleh became the president of the new Republic of Yemen. Saleh had been the president of the Yemen Arab Republic since 1978, following the assassination of the previous president, al-Ghashmi.[6]
2011 revolution[edit | edit source]
President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in 2011 during the Arab Spring, and his vice president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi took power.
Yemen overthrew Hadi's USA and Saudi-backed puppet government in 2014 and installed an anti-imperialist government led by Ansarullah. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia in 2015 and has not returned to Yemen since.[1] Following the revolution, the imperialist West began a brutal war against Yemen.[11]
Imperialist invasion[edit | edit source]
Saudi Arabia began air strikes against Yemen in March 2015 with support from the imperial core.[2]
The imperialist United States is supporting its Saudi Arabian vassal state in stirring up a bloody proxy war in Yemen that has killed 337,000 people, mostly children,[2] and left millions homeless.[12][13] Al Qaeda is supporting the Saudis and fighting against Ansarullah.[1]
In June 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he had deployed troops in Yemen to back the Saudi forces.[14]
U.S. war crimes[edit | edit source]
In 2011, Obama assassinated a U.S. citizen living in Yemen along with his son and nephew and several other civilians.[15] The United States also killed a 13-year-old boy in 2015 with a drone strike and 30 people, including an 8-year-old girl, in 2017 with a SEAL attack. In 2018, a US-backed Saudi plane bombed a school bus, killing 40 innocent children and injuring 80 more people.[citation needed]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 ANSWER Coalition (2019-01-07). "12 things you should know about Yemen" Liberation News. Archived from the original on 2020-11-07. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ben Norton (2022-02-20). "US-Saudi war on Yemen has killed 377,000 people – UN estimate" Geopolitical Economy Report. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Jane Cutter (2023-12-23). "Who are the Houthis?" Liberation News. Archived from the original on 2023-12-23.
- ↑ “The Mutawakkilite Imamate in Sana‘a had ruled the entire area which became the Yemen Arab Republic from 1918 onwards, after the final withdrawal of the Ottomans following their defeat in the First World War. Its realm was widely described as an isolated and backward state. The three Imams who ruled during this period (Yahia 1918–1948, Ahmed 1948–1962, Badr 19–25 September 1962) had to deal with a series of opposition movements intent on democratising and modernising the state. All were violently and brutally repressed. On 26 September 1962 the newly installed Imam Badr, despite his more modernist and progressive image, was overthrown by a military coup organised by officers who had been exposed to Arab nationalism during their studies in Cairo and Baghdad. They established the Yemen Arab Republic and there followed an eight-year-long civil war between the republicans and the Imam’s forces. The republicans were supported by tens of thousands of Egyptian troops sent in by Nasser, until 1967 when the defeat in the Six Day War compelled Nasser to withdraw his forces. The royalist fighters regrouped alongside the Imam and his senior relatives and received significant open support from Saudi Arabia and secret support from Britain in the form of special military forces, including mercenaries infiltrated through the protectorates, mostly from Bayhan”
Helen Lackner (2017). Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-Liberalism and the Disintegration of a State: 'Chapter 3: The Two Yemeni Republics and Unification' (pp. 105-106). Lightning Source Inc.. - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Vijay Prashad (2008). The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World: 'Mecca' (p. 265). [PDF] The New Press. ISBN 9781595583420 [LG]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Helen Lackner (2017). Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-Liberalism and the Disintegration of a State (pp. 106-130). Lightning Source Inc..
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 “The White House looked on the Brothers as a silent ally, a secret weapon against (what else?) communism. This covert action started in the 1950s with the Dulles brothers—Allen at the CIA and John Foster at the State Department—when they approved Saudi Arabia’s funding of Egypt’s Brothers against Nasser. As far as Washington was concerned, Nasser was a communist. He’d nationalized Egypt’s big-business industries, including the Suez Canal. He bought his weapons from the Soviet Union. He was threatening to bulldoze Israel into the sea. The logic of the cold war led to a clear conclusion: If Allah agreed to fight on our side, fine. If Allah decided political assassination was permissible, that was fine, too, so long as no one talked about it in polite company. Like any other truly effective covert action, this one was strictly off the books. There was no CIA finding, no memorandum of notification to Congress. Not a penny came out of the Treasury to fund it.
In other words, no record. All the White House had to do was give a wink and a nod to countries harboring the Muslim Brothers, like Saudi Arabia and Jordan. That’s what happened during the Yemeni civil war that got under way in 1962. When Nasser backed an anti-American government and sent troops to help it, Washington quietly gave Riyadh approval to back Yemen’s Muslim Brothers against the Egyptians.”
Robert Baer (2004). Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude (pp. 98-99). Three Rivers Press. - ↑ F. Gregory Gause III (1990). Saudi-Yemeni Relations: Domestic Structures and Foreign Influence (pp. 98-118). New York City: Columbia University Press.
- ↑ "32. South Yemen (1967-1990)". University of Central Arkansas - Government, Public Service, and International Studies. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Al Jazeera English (23 May 2024). "Aden 1986: The assassination that changed Yemen's history". YouTube.
- ↑ "Yemen’s quest for self-determination continues unabated" (2023-01-26). Lalkar. Archived from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
- ↑ US Fueling Saudi War on Yemen: Envoy by Tasnim News Agency on July 6th, 2021
- ↑ A Crisis Made in America: Yemen on Brink of Famine After U.S. Cuts Aid While Fueling War by Democracy Now on September 17th, 2020
- ↑ "U.S. president confirms deployment of troops in Yemen" (2022-06-14). Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ↑ "Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki killed in Yemen" (2011-09-30). BBC. Retrieved 2021-12-30.