Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the southern Yemeni city of Aden, calling for an end to the union with Yemen and the restoration of an independent South Yemen, which Aden was the capital of until 1990.
The march was timed for the anniversary of the 1986 civil war, in which exiled former ruler Abdul Fattah Ismail returned from Moscow and attempted to reclaim power. South Yemen never fully recovered from the brief war, and by 1990 officials agreed to come under the rule of the northern half of the country.
Yemen’s military has taken a dim view of secessionist protests in recent months, and adopted a “shoot on sight” policy against some of the recent rallies in Aden. So far they have not moved against today’s rally.
Absent from the demonstration was any discussion of Maj. Gen. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s offer for negotiations with southern Yemeni officials aimed at partial autonomy for the region, with most seeming to take a secession-or-nothing view of the situation.
They should part ways, as the countries have nothing in common. Not common history, nor mentalitiy. The lost war forced them into Union, but this will not last. Unlike places like Kosovo that was Serbian throught its history until the modern time immigation changed population balance — South Yemen was a political construct that obliterated the original names for the region. It was never "Yemen" to start with. Yet, while in Kosovo, forcing Serbs to give up their heartland, their history, their Jerusalem — west is hell bent to recognize the independence. Here, where the unity is imaginary and achieved only through a recent war — west is trying to stop independence at all cost.
Which is crying for more advanced international law that would regulate claims on seccession, and make them at least as clear as a divorce.