South24 Center (Aden)

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) said on Wednesday (August 26) that preparations had been completed for mass rallies in Aden and Hadramout on September 1 to mark the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Southern Army.

The planned rally in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout, carries particular political significance. It is expected to be held on the main street outside the governor’s palace, days after a security force entered parts of the STC’s local headquarters and only two days before the expiry of a tribal ultimatum concerning the return of prominent Hadrami leader Sheikh Amr bin Habrish Al-Aliyi from Saudi Arabia.

The STC’s General Secretariat said the September 1 events would not be limited to commemorating a historical anniversary, but would also demonstrate public support for the council’s political project and for the forces it describes as the “Southern Armed Forces.” The STC links the anniversary to its project to restore an independent southern state on the territory of the former state of South Yemen.

In Hadramout, the STC also portrays the rally as a protest against political exclusion, deteriorating public services, and the local authorities’ management of the governorate’s affairs and resources.

Tensions began on Monday afternoon (August 24), when the STC’s Executive Body in Hadramout said a military force had surrounded its headquarters in Mukalla and attempted to storm the building. According to the body, members of the force later entered several offices early Tuesday and removed flags, display stands, and the recording device connected to the surveillance cameras. South24 Center could not independently verify the details of the incident or identify the security unit involved, while the local authority and its security agencies had issued no public response.

The STC’s National Assembly condemned the incident, describing it as an escalation against peaceful political activity. Senior STC official Fadhl Al-Jaadi said targeting the council’s offices served the Houthis by fragmenting the forces opposed to them. Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, called for an immediate investigation and an end to what it described as an “ongoing cycle of repression” and restrictions on political expression in Yemen.

The anniversary dates back to September 1, 1971, which southern political and military institutions commemorate as the founding day of the Southern Army. South Yemen gained independence from Britain on November 30, 1967.

During the 1970s and 1980s, its armed forces developed ground, naval, air, and air-defense branches, supported by extensive military cooperation, training programs, and weapons supplied by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc states.

The northern and southern armies were never fully integrated following Yemen’s unification in 1990. After the 1994 war, most officers of the former South Yemeni army were dismissed or forced into early retirement. Their grievances later contributed to the emergence of the Southern Movement in 2007 and have remained a central part of the STC’s political narrative since its establishment in 2017.

The planned mass rallies also coincide with renewed efforts to resume oil exports from Hadramout and Shabwah in South Yemen, a move opposed by the STC.

Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi announced on July 20 that the government would work to resume exports, which have been largely suspended since Houthi drone attacks targeted the Al-Dhabba terminal in Hadramout and the Al-Nushayma terminal in Shabwah in late 2022.

Al-Alimi said the revenues would be used to pay salaries, improve public services, and support economic stability across Yemen, including in Houthi-controlled areas.

Over recent months, the STC has mobilized southerners in large-scale, unprecedented demonstrations in Aden, Hadramout, and other major cities to reject what participants described as Saudi tutelage, as well as the announcement to dissolve the council made by some of its members in Riyadh last January.

Authorities responded to some of these demonstrations with violent crackdowns and live ammunition, resulting in fatalities in Mukalla, Ataq in Shabwah, and Aden.