The once known Yemen no longer exists

In September 26, 1962 militaries dropped the Imam regime in Yemen and the republic was declared. This came in the context of the transformations witnessed by the Arab world in light of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rising star. A few days marked the anniversary of half a century since the declaration of the Republic of what was called “North Yemen.” However, in fifty years, the whole of Yemen has changed, including its north and south. The only thing that hasn’t changed is that Yemen remains the only republican regime in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen was still poor and has become even became poorer. This will be among the biggest challenges facing the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the next years and with reasons related to terrorism and its export - Al-Qaeda terrorism comes first. It can’t be ignored that out of the 50 years lifetime of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh was a President for 33 years. He was the President of “Yemen Arab Republic”, which is North Yemen between 1978 and 1990, then President of the “Republic of Yemen” which included the north and the south since 1990 and till 2012 when he was forced to step down and still remains in the country after a popular movement on the Yemeni way. This movement included all the country. Its seriousness was increased due to internal division in Zaidis’ rule which before was the real military and tribal support to the regime. These serious unprecedented splits in the history of the country were from one side the result of the bequeathing power issue – of Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh – and the consecutive wars with Houthis in the north of the “North” since 2004, and from the other side the increasing extremism and terrorism. In 1962 there were two Yemens in Yemen of which one was a British colony with the capital Aden. Now, Yemen is unified, but its unity is seeing more threat than any other time with calls for separation. In 1962 the population in Yemen didn’t exceed six million. Now there are more than 27 million people in Yemen. The increase in population is scary as it reaches 3 per cent annually. There is more than one million people increase every two years. Who is going to feed all these people? What are they going to learn in a country where the unemployment rate reaches 30 per cent? In 1962, Sanaa was a small city, but now its population is more than two million. They don’t have enough water, no sewage, no urban planning. Aden instead was among the most important ports in the world, a modern city by any means in the British era. Currently, Aden’s population is about one million and its port is secondary. It was transformed from a city with the best schools of the region into a chaotic city dressed in black and full of extremism. Of course achieving Yemen’s unity was enormous, even exceptional. At lease it prepared to be a modern country that runs free elections, where political parties compete, where diverse newspapers are issued, at least theoretically. Also the constitution – that of the unity state- guaranteed women’s right including their right to candidacy and voting. The most important of all is that unity led to avoiding more civil wars and massacres in South Yemen, and to halt the occasional confrontations between the North and the South, as well as allowing the final demarcation of the Yemeni land and sea borders with Oman, then Saudi Arabia and then Eritrea. In 50 years, particularly after the unity, the nature of political balances in Yemen has changed. It’s not only because of the 1994 summer war where southern leaders failed to finalise the unity and the consequent return to a powerful centralized regime from Sanaa. We might say there are huge mistakes occurring on all levels and in all classes which are among the reasons of the deterioration of the Yemeni conditions. Some mistakes are due to a significant change in Ali Abdullah Saleh’s character after defeating his enemies in 1994 and feeling the power to exclusively take all decisions. However we cannot place blame on just one side. But it is fair to say that the Yemeni future does not seem promising. The Shafei weight cannot be ignored in the central and southern areas in Taez city, which lies in the middle of the largest population gathering in the country, and where there are calls for division coming from the south. There are big and many questions posing themselves every day. Who solves the poverty issue in Yemen? Who solves the traumatic population growth? Who solves the Houthi issue in the north of the North? Who solves the unemployment issue? Who solves the issues of schools, universities and educational courses? Who solves the extremism issue? Who solves the water, electricity and traffic network issues as well as agriculture issues? What can be done after the alliance between the Sheikh and the President broke up? What can be done about the disintegration of the alliance between Abdullah Salef and his native major Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, with all what it poses of internal, regional and sectarian alliances and extensions? Is there still hope in Yemen, despite all the good intentions of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi? Yes, there are many unanswered questions that we all must await on - but one thing is for sure - the Yemen we used to know is now gone. ---- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.