حزب رابطة الجنوب العربي الحر الرابطة
The Speech of
Mr. Abdulrahman Ali Ben Mohammed Aljifri
Chairman of the Southern National Organization
For libration and Independence (Alhy’ah)*
President of Free South Arabian League Party (ALRABITAH)**
* The Southern National Organization for Liberation and Independence “Alhy’ah” consists of 25 of the most effective Southern political and Hirak organizations. It also includes many of the southern effective independent figures.
** Free South Arabian League Party “ALRABITAH” is the only southern party so far and it is the oldest political party in the region as it was declared in Aden on 29 April 1951.
In the name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have come here to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to you for the direct and important role we expect your council to assume in support of our cause “the Sothern Question”. We thank you for standing today with the cause of the people of South Arabia whose suffering started, and is still continuing, since more than quarter a century as a result of a “unification” decision. This unity never existed in the history of our country. Therefore, that decision was hasty, unstudied and was taken as a result of exceptional circumstances globally. This people, the owner and source of power and the holder of full sovereignty, found itself in a position it did not choose. This adversely affected all the life affairs of this people but also its future, freedom, identity, security and stability on its land.
Please allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to present to you the question of our people in South Arabia; the so called “Southern Yemen” and then “Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen” during 23 years preceding 1990. The original name of it is “South Arabia” and it was identified as such in all UN resolutions before its independence from Britain or in the independence document.
First:
1. South Arabia was, and is still, the focus of attention from different international powers, whether in the neighborhood or overseas. Modern history shows that among these powers was Britain. Britain did not hide its interest in South Arabia directly since the beginning of the 19th century through the conclusion of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Sultan Ahmed Bin Abdulkareem, the Sultan of Lahej and its Dependencies, on the 6th of September 1802. At that time, Britain did not find that agreement sufficient but it tried with the Sultan of Lahej to give up Aden for its benefit. The Sultan rejected so Britain resorted to the military force and succeeded on the 19th of January 1839 in occupying Aden. Then Britain expanded in South Arabia through protection agreements / Treaties / conventions thereafter to ensure its continued presence for 129 years. The people of South Arabia has resisted the occupants since the first moments of occupation. The resistance against the occupants never stopped and it has taken different forms later such as the popular uprisings, labor strikes and armed struggle. The struggle of the people of South Arabia for liberation from the British colonizers was crowned by independence on the 30th of November 1967. The document of the agreed points regarding the independence of South Arabia stated in article (1) that “South Arabia shall become independent on 30 November 1967 (this day shall be referred to as the Independence Day)”. Article (2) states: “On the day of independence, an independent state shall be established known as the Peoples’ Republic of Southern Yemen with the official will of the National Front …”. The National Front was the party which received from Britain the rule of South Arabia individually based on Geneva meeting between the National Front and Britain. It was later (December 1970) the name of the state was modified to become “the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen” by a decision from that political organization (the National Front) without referring to the people of South Arabia and without seeking its opinion. This is an obvious evidence that the country was heading in an anti-democracy trajectory.
One of the facts, which is for history to judge, was the peaceful declaration of unification. In light of international changes then, this matter was considered to be in line with international law and in harmony with the idea of saving the two neighboring republics (the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Arab Republic of Yemen) from the plights of the two wars between them in 1972 and 1979. So, the rejection of war was expressed in the form of establishing a unified state of both regimes and this encouraged states and international organizations to recognize this step in spite of the reservations and the feeling of astonishment among some Arab leaders towards the method and speed of declaring unification of both countries.
2. With the two regimes in the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Arab Republic of Yemen rushing towards concluding the Aden Agreement on the 30th of November 1989 regarding the conclusion of unity on the 30th of November 1990, the unity was hastily declared on the 22nd of May 1990 without referring to the people in a referendum before the unification. This disregard makes this step illegitimate. In a stranger movement; one year after the declaration of unity, a referendum for the constitution of the unified state was held on the 15th and 16th of May 1991 with an attached paper stating that the referendum on the constitution is a referendum for unity. That was a failed attempt to provide an ex-post legitimacy to random step, which had catastrophic repercussions later on.
In fact, the justification for the declaration of the unified state on the ruins of the two republics was to realize the interest of both peoples (the people of the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen and the people of the Arab Republic of Yemen) considering it as the declared aim of both peoples. The interest, within the scope of this relationship, seemed to be a mutual interest. This was the understanding of the people of the South towards this agreement (the people of the Democratic Republic of Yemen). However, the other party to the agreement (the Arab Republic of Yemen), represented by its tribal and military regime had a different understanding. It considered that this agreement, based on its invalid claim, represents the return of the branch to its origin as expressed by one of the leaders of that military-tribal regime Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Alahmar, the speaker of the Parliament then, and the head of the Yemeni Islah Party who said in a parliament session on 25 April 1994 that unity, when it was created in May 1990 “has brought things back to normalcy; the branch has rejoined the origin, the part has returned to the whole and the astray son has returned to his father… since the creation of unity, the lost branch is trying to be given the same position and rights of the origin, which we cannot accept”. This baseless expansive view has no roots in reality nor in history. This means that the agreement, in the concept of Sana’a regime, is a mean to reach an end. It means that unity was just annexing and occupation under the name of unity. This is against the agreement on the declaration of the Republic of Yemen and is in contradiction with the rules of international law on one hand. On the other hand, the Southern Arabia territory, never witnessed, before and after Islam, the birth of an entity called Yemen and this entity never existed there. However, the world knew and dealt with this name “Yemen” in modern history following the end of the First World War and the withdrawal of Turkey from Yemen. Then, the name of the Yemeni Mutwakeli Kingdome was attached only to that part which was later on known as the Arab Republic of Yemen. South Arabia was not part of that state, which carried the name of Yemen as a state for the first time in history. Therefore, these assumptions are rejected in their entirety because they deepen a concept that is rejected by the civilized world today and are baseless in the history of the region.
3. The agreement on the declaration of the Republic of Yemen and the regulation of the transitional period came in less than two pages. It seemed to represent an agreement to end the use of force, or the threat to use force, to achieve unity between the two peoples and their two states during the cold war era. People of the South welcomed the hopes of security, stability and development. However, the substantial political differences between the parties to power revealed the truth of the existing divisions between the two peoples and states. The people of the South found itself facing an unprecedented and unusual state of chaos, randomness, rampant corruption and lack of security, order and law with attempts to erase the Southern identity. At the same time, the people of the South faced stringent centralization as well as the destruction of the civil and military institutions of the South. Originally, and during the transitional period, the military and security institutions of the two states were not merged nor the currency was unified. Therefore, the building of unity was incomplete. Rather, the South was systematically destroyed in terms of identity, institutions, land and humans. The executive institutions in the South were deliberately obstructed. As a result, the south has entered into a dark tunnel adversely affecting the daily lives of Southern citizens.
4. Conflicts among those wanting authority have escalated. The Southerners tried to deal with the situation by peaceful means through dialogues, discussions, mediation …etc. However, the leadership in Sana’a considered the military force as the only way out of the crisis. Upon the signature on the “Pledge and Accord Document” in February 1994 in Amman, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the “Sana’a” regime resorted to force to win the political disagreement. The speech of the head of the regime at that time, Ali Abdullah Saleh, which he delivered on April 27th, 1994 in Al-Sabeen Square in Sana’a was considered as a war speech as he said “…. There are no ways other than the unification or death….”. As a result, the southern military brigades which were positioned in the northern Yemeni governorates were destroyed. A comprehensive war broke out on May 4th, 1994 which was launched by Sana’a regime on the whole southern soil- in the south geographical frame- with all kinds of heavy weapons to include aerial bombardment, missiles and artillery. Fatwas from Sana’a were wrongly issued under the name of religion which permitted “killing civilians to include women, the elderly and children”. These Fatwas were publicly broadcasted in their media. On July 7th, 1994 a full invasion of the southern territory took place accompanied by an unprecedented looting in the civilized world in the twentieth century.
5. By resorting to oppression and discrimination against the people of the South Arabia during its colony of the South, the Sana’a regime explicitly confirmed its rejection of enforcing the democracy rules and acknowledgement of the right of the people in political, economic and social equal choice or participation. Thus, the Sana’a regime run the South in the same pattern Yemen is – personal administration (individual governor) in addition to reviving tribal revenges, mobilizing and directing Al-Qaeda and jihadists to terrify the southerners. The so-called “National Dialogue Conference” document which was adopted and issued on January 25th, 2014 asserted on page 32 that (… the wrong and absurd practices which took place in the last period and the takfiri fatwas created a conviction among a large number of southerners that a peaceful unification is undermined and that their status within a unified country is politically, economically and socially destroyed..).
6. During the 1994 war against the South, the United Nations Security Council intervened and issued two resolutions No. 924 (1994) and No. 931 (1994) under the title “the Situation in Yemen”. The resolutions stressed a cease-fire and that political differences cannot be resolved through the use of force, and demanded the resumption of dialogue among the conflicting parties. However, the Sana’a regime did not abide by the resolutions and its commitment to the international community which were stated in a letter by its Prime Minister to the UN Secretary General on July 7th, 1994.
The statement issued on June 5th, 1994 at the end of the 51 Session of the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stressed that unification cannot be imposed by force. It stated:
“Based on the fact that unity is a demand by the Arab nation, the GCC welcomed the Yemeni unification by the consensus of the two independent Yemeni states: the Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in May 1990. Therefore, the continuance of this unification can only exist by the consensus of both parties. Through the reality that one party declared its will to go back to the previous situation and the establishment of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, the two parties can deal with the situation by the peaceful means only”.
Six months after the colonization of the South, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Secretary General report presented in the 49th Session which included, among other things, the “Situation in Yemen” which indicated that:
“The UNSC Resolutions No. 924 (1994) and No. 931 (1994) were overlooked. Cessation of hostilities in itself will not result in a permanent solution for the roots of the problems…. I am ready to continue to use the good offices to reach a reconciliation in Yemen”.
7. In spite of the Sana’a regime commitments, it went in a different direction on the southern issue after it imposed its control by force and turned the situation into a fully-structured colonization as the regime did the following:
• Tens of thousands of southern public employees in the civil and military service were illegally dismissed and referred to forced retirement. This action is an explicit violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is referred to in the Constitution of the Republic of Yemen and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which the Republic of Yemen is a party in.
• The disposition of the south real estates, properties and farms which were given to influential officials and dismissing their workers.
• The continuance of killings, detentions, chasing and enforced disappearances until this moment and until this date. Thousands were killed – this is a documented fact- and thousands injured and enforcedly disappeared.
• Oppression through direct military governance and continuance of looting.
• Giving privileges in the field of oil exploration to influential officials in the Sana’a regime after the 1994 war.
• Imposing royalties on the companies working in the oil sector which were collected by Yemeni military leaders under their power positions in Sana’a under the name of “protection” which are deducted from the State share of the partnership of the exploration companies.
• Seizing the south lands and properties.
• Discrimination and absence of equal citizenship.
• Dividing the South into military regions ruled by military leaders, and deploying 54 brigades from different ground, navy and air military formations, in addition to the Central Security Forces compounds which were positioned in all the cities and governorates of the South. All these military units are from Yemen which subjected the South to an actual military colonization.
In spite of the defeat of the Southern armed forces in the 1994 war, the popular resistance escalated starting from the participation in the war against the Yemeni forces followed by armed popular confrontations which were strongly smashed. After that, popular demonstrations against the colonization started and the National Front for Opposition was formed three months after the colonization of the South in 1994 to lead the popular rejection and the demand of removing the effects of war. Your esteemed Parliament issued a motion after our visit in 1998 to support our stance at that time, and the British House of Commons did the same.
Also, an armed movement calling for self-determination was declared which existed in a limited geographical scope. Although we reject violence, this movement was a result of oppression and injustice. This movement made serious sacrifices and was subject to severe colonial treatment by the authority.
The Yemeni authorities and forces reached new levels in oppressing and excluding the Southerners and seizing their public and private properties. They did not respond to all the attempts that are demanding rights and freedoms. The popular committees which were established in a number of Southern governorates were banned, and the authority sought to fight any movement that demands to correct the path of the unification.
In Hadramout, the governorate of civilization, protests against the situation broke out in 1997 and the colony authorities confronted them with live munitions where many were killed and injured.
In July 2004, the southern popular rejection of the Yemeni colonization went to an important turn by the declaration of the Southern Democratic Gathering from London that the existent situation is a colonization and the independence of the South should be achieved peacefully, and it called for the preservation of the independent South Arabia identity. Organized and intensive political and media events increased inside and outside the country where the communication tools contributed in the success of mobilizing and uniting the Southern street.
The events of peaceful rejection continued in the different Southern cities and areas accompanied by a big number of mass popular events such as the (Southern- Southern) Reconciliation and Tolerance Forums which were launched on January 13th, 2006 by Radfan Society in Aden and the Military Retired Society which was established in Al-Dhale’ in March 2007 and others. In July 7th, 2007 the people of South Arabia calumniated its peaceful struggle by announcing the Southern Peaceful Movement (Al-Hirak) from its capital, Aden which calls for the liberation and independence of the occupied South Arabia and the rejection of violence and terrorism and the resort to peaceful demonstrations and peaceful civil disobedience, and assertion of equal dialogue between the representatives of the people of South Arabia and the people of Yemen to end the colonization and achieve the independence.
Some of the components that were established are: the National Council for the South Independence, Success Movement, the National Authority, the Supreme Council for the Hirak. All these were established in Yafe’, Radfan, Al-Dhale’, Abyan and others.
Young people and women professional components were formed and became an important resource for the Peaceful Southern Movement by holding million-people demonstrations, sit-ins over the past eight years which were confronted by live ammunitions by the Yemeni colonial forces which resulted in the killing of three thousand people (martyrs), thousands of injured and thousands were imprisoned without trials. This deepened the division between the South and Yemen in a way that cannot be remedied.
Some of the young people components which have been playing a significant role are: The South Youth Federation, 16 February Youth, the Student and Youth Movement, the Liberation South Youth Forum, Integrity Youth, Aden Youth Movement, the Democratic Youth League, Aden Youth Bloc, Mulla Square Youth, and many youth organizations in Hadramout and others.
Also, we shall not forget the big number of traditional poets who have been organizing many events from day one to express the feelings and goals of their people and the peaceful revolutionary movement.
The role of the local press in the south was exemplary including that of Al-ayyam newspaper at the time and its editor-in-chief the late Hisham Basharaheel. Other southern newspapers have contributed significantly to the Southern question including “Aden Alghad” (Aden Tomorrow), “Alomanaa”, “Sada Aden”, “The Cause”, “The Southern” and many other newspapers and websites.
It is a source of pride and honor to observe the role of the southern women who have engaged with persistence and bravery in all areas of peaceful revolutionary struggle.
The appearance of Mr. Ali Salem AlBeidh in 2009, his declaration of support to the southern people’s movement and revival of Aden Live channel coupled with his conference in Brussels has left a clear moral impact.
Then in 2011, the “Cairo Conference” was held and adopted what had been proposed before; a federation of two regions.
Attempts to create a unified southern front continued. A partial breakthrough occurred with the formation of “the National Democratic Southern Bloc” which was a model of diversity and cooperation that eventually identified itself with the southern demands in liberation and independence. We mustn’t forget the role of the “South Arabia’s League” and the role of some southern rulers during the period that preceded independence as well as other independent southern figures, the youth and diaspora communities. We also have to note the role of the religious scholars including the “Southern Scholarly Body for Preaching, Fatwa and Guidance” and “the Consultative Forum of the Sons of the South in Sanaa”. The Liaison Group made several attempts in Cairo but circumstances prevented it from keeping them up.
It is noteworthy to point out the positive role played by “Intellectuals for a New South” which formed a broad preparatory committee to convene an inclusive southern conference. It exerted significant efforts but certain elements and circumstances beyond its control prevented it from completing its mission.
I shall also note with admiration the efforts and support provided by a number of southern businessmen in exile to back the cause and the peaceful southern movement. Huge numbers of expats, especially from the youth, have made great efforts to promote their cause through all media platforms. Some even contribute money from their little income to support their brothers in the country. To all of those, we pay tribute, gratitude and appreciation.
On the other hand, political moves took place in Cairo in November 2012 through meetings with Mr. Jamal Benomar, the Special Adviser to the United Nation’s Secretary-General on Yemen. The southern question was raised clearly and candidly. He expressed willingness to facilitate a southern-southern meeting and to mention, for the first time, something about the southern issue in his briefings. So, in his subsequent briefing to the Security Council, the Special Adviser mentioned the southern question for the first time after 14 briefings that had been presented without any mention of the south.
Then, a meeting took place in Riyadh on 18 December 2012 by a generous invitation of the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Abdelatif Ben Rashed Al-Zayani. The meeting was attended by about 60 southern figures from various parties. The most important outcome of the meeting was that everybody agreed to a joint memo that underscores one objective- “liberation, independence and the establishment of a southern federal state in accordance with the international standards”. This was an unprecedented achievement. The memo called upon the brothers in the GCC to come up with an initiative to resolve the southern question.
After that, an official meeting was conducted with Mr. Benomar in Dubai on 9 March 2013. The meeting reiterated the outcome of the Riyadh meeting and highlighted the importance of a GCC-International facilitation of an inclusive southern meeting. A joint statement came out of the meeting which in itself carried significance because it was a joint statement issued by the representative of the international community and southern leaders. The statement asserted that the southern movement’s course has been peaceful and will continue to be so. It also emphasized that dialogue is the means to resolve the southern question and that the inclusive southern meeting was under a GCC-international auspices.
Another meeting with Mr. Benomar took place on 29 March 2013 where the position of the southern people was further clarified. Then in his briefing to the Security Council members in April, Mr. Benomar explained in unprecedented detail the southern question with illustrations and images of the southern events. However, the briefing didn’t recommend any solutions that meet the popular will of the southern people.
One popular event was organized after the other and witnessed unprecedented turnout throughout the south and most intensively in the provinces of Aden, Hadhramout, Lahj, Abyan, AlDhale and Shabwa. During those events, the people proved to be persistent and determined to achieve its goal in liberation and independence. The youth, belonging to various political and southern components, in Shabwa initiated a campaign to collect fingerprints from all parts of the south on a letter from the people of the south to the entire world that affirms the people’s determination to realize freedom, independence and create the independent southern state. This is a fine political act that deals with the world using its own devices. They created a committee that ensured a successful campaign.
We have seriously tried by all means possible and for quarter a century to maintain any form or manifestation of unity in order to avoid reaching this point of destruction and hatred between the two brotherly neighborly nations but this was to no avail. We had proposed multiple formulas; a local governance system with broad powers, a composite state, a multi-region federal state and finally a federation of two regions followed by referendum in the south. Each time, we were faced with procrastination, oppression and abuse until we reached a stage where we bore witness that the continuation of any form of unity between Yemen and South Arabia will only complicate the situation and destabilize it which is happening today. Consequently, due to the collapse of all state institutions in Yemen and the south, there is no other solution but to declare the creation of two states; Yemen and South Arabia and normalize relations between them with a view to achieve the mutual interests of both and realize security, stability and development for both countries, the region and the world.
The Yemeni authorities and political parties came together as one front in attempting to drive a wedge between the southern revolutionary forces and clone them. They used the stick one time and the carrot the other. All these methods didn’t stop the southern revolution’s track which was crowned on 25 January 2015 with a broad announcement under the Interim National Southern Body for Liberation and Independence (The Body). Demanding independence of the south, the right to self-determination and preservation of the southern independent identity wasn’t just a banner waved by the southern political factors, it was rather a popular will. A will that manifested in the rallies where millions took part and the boycott of the farcical Yemeni elections. This is further affirmed today by the legendary resistance with very little potentials against the powers that seek to entrench the occupation led by the Houthi and Saleh loyalists against the people in the south.
Second:
1. The people in South Arabia have enjoyed, throughout history, a distinctive geographic location in this part of the world. South Arabia overlooks the Strait of Tears which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. History books narrate, when tackling the old ages, the story of the South Arabia Kingdoms. These books point out that those southern kingdoms were “people of civilization and ruled states that are on equal footing with their contemporaries in Assyria, Phoenician, Egypt and Persia…”, (Jurji Zidan, Arabs before Islam, Volume One, Second edition, AlHilal Press, Egypt 1922 p. 135).
The South Arabia’s Kingdoms took advantage of this unique location; the South Arabians played an active role in trading between east and west particularly in trading frankincense which was a basic ingredient in the incense industry. There wasn’t a single temple or a house of rich people in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Jerusalem and Rome that didn’t request this precious material to satisfy their lords. Demand for frankincense spiked constantly from Europe to Asia. The kingdoms of South Arabia became an integral part of the international economy with a network of marine transport to India, the Mediterranean, the Silk Road and the coasts of east Africa.
[*Middle East Institute. The Story of Frankincense. www.mei.edu/sqcc/frankincense]
Orientalists were the first to reveal the statue of South Arabia and its old age kingdoms starting from the second half of the 18th century through archeological missions. Ruins, relics, inscriptions and coins unearthed key contributions of southern kingdoms like Awsan, Qataban and Hadhramout Kingdoms to the ancient world.
Today, we reiterate that the people of South Arabia have the capacity to turn the port of Aden- which used to be one of the most crowded in the world in the recent past- into a hub for international and regional investments.
2. Aden will play a pivotal role not only in fighting terrorism but also eradicating it along with acts of piracy and the smuggling of drugs and weapons.
Third:
The current war against the south, waged by the Houthi militia and the troops loyal to the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the same powers that led the 1994 war against the south, is aimed to consolidate the unity which was imposed by force and rejected by the people of South Arabia. This was admitted by Ali Abdullah Saleh in a recent TV interview. It is a war waged today with the support of Iran.
Today, we reiterate that the national demands of the people in South Arabia have entered a new phase in the wake of the full-scale war waged by the Yemeni Republican Guards, Central Security Forces, the Army and the Houthi militias (Ansarullah) using heavy and light weaponry since February 2015. Our people, its political constituencies and Southern Movement, had no choice but to engage in armed resistance in an act of self-defense. This incursion led to the killing and injury of scores of people that we couldn’t count. It has destroyed everything in the south and drove more than half of the population outside their homes. People in several cities were put under siege and deprived continuously and fatally of their basic necessities such as water, food, medicine and safety. This dire situation continues to date and has turned every talk about unity into pure fantasy and a ground for more suffering, murder and wars.
Our people in South Arabia will not accept, after today, any form of unity with Yemen. Nevertheless, it is keen to establish normal relations with Yemen on basis of mutual interests and neighborly considerations. It is also interested in having special relations with the region in the Arabian Peninsula. It is looking forward to having an exchange of interests with your esteemed Council and the world. It wants to maintain the safety, stability and development in our region and the world.
We don’t see any prospects of security and stability under the Yemeni occupation of South Arabia. Our people have fought it peacefully without shields and offered martyrs as a result of the deadly crackdown of the Yemeni occupation. Today, and from the first moment of the new Yemeni invasion, the honorable southern resistance has fought the barbarian attack with very little potentials and lost thousands of people as martyrs, injured or captives. Cities and villages have been destroyed by heavy weaponry turning most areas into disaster-hit lands deprived of all means of life including food, medicine and public services like water and electricity. If it wasn’t for the intervention of the Saudi-led Coalition, the tragedy would have been graver and genocide would have been total. All this destruction and unprecedented humanitarian tragedies are the fruit of this imposed unity. I am sure you will agree with me that people who do this are not anything but the forces of barbaric occupation and have no connection whatsoever to the people they kill and destroy their land.
It is on these grounds that our people in South Arabia have resolved to realizing its legitimate right in liberation, independence and building the new Southern independent federal and sovereign state. The sequence of events has proved that any form of continued unity between South Arabia and Yemen has become impossible. It is indeed impossible after all this killing and destruction for our people to accept co-existence with the killers of its sons, women, elderlies and destroyers of cities. Imposing this on our people will be a major hindrance preventing any security, stability and development in the region. Independence of the south and building two states- Yemen and South Arabia- is the way to give southerners a sense of recognized will. Their rage will fade away and the bridges of mutual interests will replace the walls of hatred and conflicts.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We shouldn’t forget that the United Nations Charter establishes the right of the people to enforce their will. For those who are not convinced that this is indeed the will of the southern people, we demand that regional and international forces are deployed immediately to protect our people and land and create a local administration whereby the southern people are placed under neutral international oversight for a period not to exceed twelve months during which a free and direct referendum is to take place for the people to determine their future and structure of their independent state based on the people’s free will. The United Nations Charter provides for the right to self-determination which became a binding obligation under the international law and a supporting instrument for the nations that long for freedom and independence. Paragraph (2) of Article (1) stipulate that:
To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
The UN General Assembly realized the importance of the principle of self-determination. It, therefore, adopted several resolutions including resolution A/RES/637 (VII) dated on 16 December 1952 which provided for:
“The States Members of the United Nations shall uphold the principle of self-determination of all peoples and nations”
This legal principle is further established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Party States to this Covenant are 168 as of 18 may 2015), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Party States account for 164 as of 18 May 2015). Paragraph (1) of Article (1) of both covenants reads:
“1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development”
The Republic of Yemen is a state party to both covenants since the Democratic Republic of Yemen had joined them in 9 February 1987 as evident by the UN documents on signatories. This serves as a confirmation of the Southern people’s right to freedom and to the creation of its state away from chaos, randomness, theft, dominance, arrogance and looting which haven’t taken a pause since unification to date.
Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,
You, in the European Union, represent the fundamental part of the spirit of the free world in this age. We have a right to urge you to support our fair demand that is consistent with the essence and substance of the foundations of the free world. We urge you to stand by us; to serve the right and build mutual interests that could be further developed between our country, South Arabia, and your countries.
We demand a resolution that supports our people’s right in liberation, independence and building the new federal sovereign South Arabia on the entire territory of the south. We further urge you to participate in observing a free and direct referendum under international and regional supervision as soon as possible in order to stop the bleeding caused by the imposition of unity by occupation, killing and destruction.
I thank you, in the name of the people of South Arabia, for giving me the opportunity to explain my country’s cause. I thank my colleagues in the Southern Democratic Congregation (SDC) who have exerted tremendous efforts to achieve this positive meeting.
I salute our great people in South Arabia who stand resilient against invasion and occupation and who continue to lose martyrs in a legendary epic fight of unequal struggle to repel an assault led by the Houthi militias and troops loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh against the southern land.
Allow me to quote (with adaptation) a smart and deep observation made by a woman from South Arabia, Dr. Sana Mubarak who said:
“There has never been a report of internal displacement from the south to any area in Yemen (the north) no matter how safe and stable it might be. If we look at AlDhale as an example, we will find that “Qaataba” and ‘Murais” are safe, both adjacent and within very close proximity. However, the displacement waves happened towards Radfan and Yafe in south Arabia in spite of the long distance. I feel sorry for those who try to prove that Yemen has one collective identity and national cause. The crack is quite evident and explicit. Djibouti or any other state has become closer to the sentiment of the southern people more than any province or area that belong to the north (Yemen).”
Isn’t that an evidence that any inclination towards unity with Yemen has faded away within the South Arabian people?
This saddens me. Prior to the unification, love and social ties between the two people existed. Please help us restore our country by independence and building the federal sovereign state of South Arabia on the entire area of the internationally-recognized state before 22nd of May 1990.
