Freedom and Independence for Mahra – South Yemen

Yemen was never a united country; this did not prevent the country from achieving wonders. In the Antiquity, Sabaa (Sheba), Qataban, Himyar, Ausan, Main, and Hadhramawt rose and fell, made and broke alliances, expanded influence and made trade, being always in competition, and this contributed to Ancient Yemen’s wealth, civilization and progress. Rare and brief have been the periods during which Yemen was under one scepter.

Foreign occupation was brief indeed; the Abyssinians controlled the western parts of Yemen only for few years, only to be expelled by the Sassanid Empire of Iran that controlled the entire country only for some decades.

Not a single Arab soldier has ever reached Yemen. The diffusion of Islam was very particular; Ali, the first Imam, was sent by the Prophet Muhammad to preach in Sanaa, which he did, bringing to Islam the quasi-totality of the local populations (already Nestorian Christian in their majority) and the Iranian Governor Badhan.

The different Ancient Yemenite writing systems bear witness to a South Semitic language of which the closest relative – rather a derivative – was Gueze (Ge’ez), the Ancient Abyssinian language. The Ancient Yemenite languages were different from Arabic which was closer to Syriac Aramaic; already the Arabic alphabet has been derived from Syriac in the early 3rd century CE.

The overwhelming Islamization of Yemen had as consequence the diffusion of Arabic, and the subsequent, gradual elimination of the Ancient Yemenite languages and scriptures. This process was limited at the linguistic level; there was no ethnical – racial amalgamation because the mixed Yemenite – Arab marriages were limited. In addition, Yemen’s population was much larger, and over the centuries few Arabs moved from Mecca and Medina to Yemen.

On the other hand, during the Islamic ages, many Yemenites have been dispersed throughout the Red Sea coast, in the East African coast, and in India, Indonesia and Indochina where Yemenite sailors and merchants navigated since the early 1st millennium BCE.

The linguistic arabization of Yemen was a slow process, and it was even slower in the south-eastern provinces of Yemen. In any case, it was not reflected at the cultural level, as the spectrum of the Biblical culture had already been diffused among Yemenites, because of the adhesion of a large part of them into Nestorian Christianity in the late 5th and the 6th centuries. More emphatically, the Yemenites were never arabized at the social – behavioural level.

Arabic as native language in Yemen prevailed only after the 13th century; until then, it was mainly the religious and the administrative language. As late as the last Ottoman century, the descendant forms of Ancient Yemenite, widely used in areas of today’s Yemen and Oman, represented the usual communications medium for at least half of the local populations in SE Yemen and SW Oman (Dhofar). Both, the British colonial administration and the (triggered by the British) Wahhabi Pan-Arabist tyranny of North Yemen targeted – unsuccessfully – the existence of these modern Yemenite languages that can become the key to Yemen’s and Oman’s national identity and integrity.

The main modern Yemenite languages are the Mehri (in Mahra, Yemen), the Shehri (in Dhofar), and the Suqutri (at the island of Suqutra – Yemen). South Yemen was politically different as well, and the local sultanate of Mahra was the political structure that preceded the modern state of South Yemen.

The Southern Yemenites are mostly the descendents of the Ancient Hadhramawt that the Periplus of the Red Sea names ‘Frankincense bearing country’ (Livanotoforos Khora); not only the preservation of the Ancient Yemenite languages is stronger there, but the behavioural – social system is very different, and the average people are far more open-minded and outwardly than the Northern Yemenites of Sana’a or Taiz.

In the 1970s and the 1980s, the difference between the pro-Soviet South Yemen and the colonial relic ‘North Yemen’ was impressive; the south was far more developed, productive, and progressive. And useless to add it, the South was far more integrated into the international community.

The ‘union’ targeted and achieved by the then (and still present) President Ali Abdallah Saleh was an incredible burden for the South because the local people saw their labor being exploited by the illiterate, barbaric elite of Sanaa who rule Yemen as puppets of the Wahhabi Saudis and the idiotic Americans.

Rebellion has started in many parts of the former territory of South Yemen, and it will not take long before the south becomes again free, independent, and prosper. In a free South Yemen, Mehri and Suqutri must be accepted as official languages and a program of educational rehabilitation must make them available to all schoolboys.

The recent disastrous floods consist in merely one aspect of the calamities befallen on South Yemen following the ominous merge with the North; in this regard, the inspection trip effectuated by the criminal butcher of Sana’a, Ali Abdallah Saleh, in an theatrical to show that the regime cares about the damages is a shame and a provocation. Soon, the poor half-crazy dictator of Sana’a will be persona non grata in the Free South Yemen.

I republish here a report about the heroic efforts and the persecution of Hassan Ba-Aum, leader of the Southern Movement which fights against the criminal regime Saleh of Sana’a, a brief news about Saleh’s theatrical trip, and an insightful elaborated by IRIN on the disastrous floods that caused terrible damages in the Hadhramout and al-Mahra governorates.

Armed Forces Hunt Down Ba-Aum and Other Released Detainees
By Hasan al-Zaidi

http://www.yemenpost.net/52/LocalNews/20084.htm

Local sources from Yaf'e, a mountainous area in the southern of Yemen, said that tribal men from Yaf'e's Nakheb region managed to transfer Hassan Ba-Aum, a leader in the Southern Movement to a safe place, where he could avoid governmental forces who were searching for him.

Ba–Aum's son told media that hundreds of tribal men have managed to protect his father from armed forces that wanted to arrest him and take him back to prison.

Sources mentioned that the armed forces are believed to have orders from higher authorities to arrest those who were released from prison lately by President Saleh.

Security forces have been distributing the names of those who were released to all police stations throughout the country in an effort to arrest them again.

Meanwhile, specialized penal court started trialing Hassan Ba-Aum, Ali Monasser, and Yahya Khaleb as they are suspected to be behind actions that would harm the unity of the country.

Last month, President Saleh ordered the release of 864 demonstrators arrested during protests in the southern part of Yemen.

As Yemen was doing a good job in hunting down Al-Qaeda elements across the country and managed months ago to end the ongoing war in Sa'ada, the southern issue opened the door for new erupting problems in the country.

Former military generals, unemployed professionals, and disgruntled youth across the south claim that the north is economically more developed than the south, and that northerners are favored by the government in Sana'a.

President Saleh Returns to Sana’a After Inspection Visit to Hadhramout – Mahrah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news166913.htm

Sana’a, Oct. 25 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned back on Saturday evening to Sana'a after paying an inspection visit to Hadhramout and Mahrah governorates and following-up rescue, relief and sheltering operations for victims of the rains and floods disaster which overflowed during the two previous days.

Yemen: Floods Wreak Havoc in Southeast
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81123

Sanaa, 26 October 2008 (IRIN) - Relief and rescue operations are ongoing in Hadhramout and al-Mahra governorates in southeast Yemen after being hit hard by torrential rains and subsequent floods over the past few days, according to officials.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters on 25 October that so far 41 people had died and another 31 had gone missing because of the floods. Media reports on 26 October put the death toll at 65.

Saleh said the floods had destroyed 1,700 houses and had inflicted extensive damage to infrastructure, particularly highways, bridges and telecommunications, electricity and water networks.

"The state assumes its responsibilities in facing this disaster and is highly grateful to those who contributed [in the relief effort]. We have not requested [assistance] but whoever wants to contribute, we will be thankful since this is a humanitarian disaster," he said.

Several other governorates saw heavy rains but Hadhramout and al-Mahra, where mud-brick houses are prevalent, were the most affected, according to authorities.

The state-run National Center for Meteorology (NCM) said on 25 October that weather conditions had not stabilised and warned against further disruptions in most parts of the country.

Worst floods in decades

Sabri Salmeen, an editor of a local newspaper in Hadhramout, told IRIN that the floods were the worst in decades. "Between 20,000 and 25,000 people were displaced by floods in Hadhramout province alone. Their condition is very bad. No electricity and sewage pipes are blocked. Floods have swept farms, beehives, livestock and some stores," he said, adding that the displaced were sheltering with host families and in schools.

According to Salmeen, the historic mud-brick buildings of Shibam City, a UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage site, are in danger of collapsing. Many of its 20,000 residents had fled in the middle of the night only to return after the rains had subsided to find devastation.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Yemen is prone to floods (particularly during the monsoon season), landslides and earthquakes. Water shortage is acute and chronic in most parts of the country.

In al-Mahra Governorate, floods have affected several coastal villages, sweeping dozens of fishing boats away and inundating hundreds of farms, the two main sources of income for the local population.

Salem Numair, secretary-general of al-Mahra's local council, told IRIN that 487 houses had been destroyed by the floods and hundreds of families displaced as a result in six coastal districts.

"Assessing the damage is ongoing. Preliminary reports show that 280 farms were damaged. Infrastructure was greatly damaged amid the electricity outage. Water networks were badly affected. Some new water projects [facilities] were also destroyed," he said.

An emergency committee was formed to handle the situation in the two governorates, which were declared disaster areas.

Relief aid

Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and businessmen are helping flood-affected families in the two governorates.

The Charitable Society for Social Welfare, a local NGO, said it had prepared relief aid at a cost of 10 million Yemeni Riyals (US$50,000) for the civilians in the two governorates. It included food items, tents, medicines and blankets. In a statement, the NGO said it would send more aid items later on. A number of businessmen have collectively donated over 300 million Riyals (US$1,500,000).

On 25 October, an AFP report quoting airport officials in Sanaa said that a first batch of six aircraft had taken off from Sanaa loaded with tents, food and medicine for people in the most affected areas.

maj/at/ed

Note
Picture: the Mahra Sultanate