In Yemen, Queen’s Death Recalls Memories of Colonial Past

A historical statue of Queen Victoria sits in a central square in Aden, Yemen on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
A historical statue of Queen Victoria sits in a central square in Aden, Yemen on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
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In Yemen, Queen’s Death Recalls Memories of Colonial Past

A historical statue of Queen Victoria sits in a central square in Aden, Yemen on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)
A historical statue of Queen Victoria sits in a central square in Aden, Yemen on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP)

In 1954, large crowds turned out for a historic visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Aden. At the time, this city on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula was a colony of the British Empire and was one of the busiest and most important ports in the world.

Now the queen’s death after a 70-year reign has prompted some Yemenis to remember a part of history not often evoked.

Her death has brought waves of grief and sympathy from around the globe. But it has also raised calls for a re-examination of the death and deprivation inflicted by Britain’s colonial rule in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

In Aden, now the second largest city in Yemen, many remember colonial rule as a time of oppression that entrenched some of the problems still plaguing the city and the country, which has been devastated by war since 2015.

Some today still remember Elizabeth’s visit with admiration and credit British rule with advances in the country. Hassan al-Awaidi, a university student, knows his grandfather was among those waving from the street when the queen and her husband, Prince Phillip, passed by.

But al-Awadi says his generation now knows better.

“In the context of the 21st century, such practices are seen as a reflection of contemporary global issues like racism, inequality and white supremacy,” he said.

“They cracked down on people who wanted to end the colonial occupation of this land. Thousands of people were killed in the struggle to root out colonialism. They should be prosecuted and pay for their crimes.”

Aden was the only Arab territory to have been a British colony. Other British outposts in the Middle East like Egypt, Palestine and in the Gulf were mandates or protectorates, not outright colonies.

Aden was first occupied by the British in 1839. Britain went on to seize surrounding parts of southern Yemen as protectorates, clashing with the other colonizers of the peninsula, the Ottomans.

Finally, the two established a border splitting north and south Yemen — a division that has endured throughout the country’s modern history.

Aden was officially declared a Crown Colony in 1937. Positioned just outside the Red Sea, the city was a vital refueling and commercial port between Europe and Asia, particularly Britain’s colony of India.

Elizabeth stopped by on the way back from Australia, part of her first tour of the Commonwealth two years after ascending to the throne.

Photos of the visit on the website of the British-Yemeni Society, a UK charity, show British officers, dignitaries and Yemeni leaders greeting the young queen and her husband.

The royals also watched a military parade featuring British and local Yemeni forces.

But not long after the visit, an uprising emerged, fueled by pan-Arab nationalism and backed by Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, an arch-foe of colonial powers in 1950s and 1960s. After years of fighting, the British were finally forced to withdraw.

When the last batch of British troops left Aden in late November 1967, the People’s Republic of South Yemen was born with Aden its capital. It would be the only Marxist country to ever exist in the Arab world, lasting until unification with the north in 1990.

Some in Aden recall British rule as bringing order and development.

Bilal Gulamhussein, a writer and researcher of the modern history of Aden, said many “long for the past they lived during the days of British rule, because everything was going in order, as if you were living in Britain exactly.”

He said that much of the beginnings of infrastructure and basic services, including health and education, date to the colonial time.

“Britain laid the foundations of the civil administration in Aden from the first beginnings of the occupation,” he said.

A few small reminders remain.

A statue of Queen Victoria stands in a main square, nicked by bullets that grazed it during crossfires in the current war. A clocktower resembling London’s Big Ben overlooks the city from a hilltop. A plaque commemorates Queen Elizabeth’s laying of the founding stone of a main hospital.

Salem al Yamani, a schoolteacher in the southern province of Abyan, said that even amid the current chaos, nostalgia for colonial times sparked by Elizabeth’s death is misplaced.

“The idea of having good roads and services does not mean they (the colonizers) were good. They were occupiers who served their own interest in the first place,” he said.

“That the situation now is dire doesn’t mean we want them back again,” he said. “This is our own problem, and it will be resolved if foreign powers stopped meddling in our affairs.”



Syria’s Al-Qusayr Celebrates Eid al-Fitr without Hezbollah for First Time in Years

People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
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Syria’s Al-Qusayr Celebrates Eid al-Fitr without Hezbollah for First Time in Years

People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)
People perform Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Al-Qusayr. (Sami Volunteer Team)

Amid the devastation, thousands of residents of Syria’s Al-Qusayr performed Eid Al-Fitr prayers in the northern district square—the site where the city’s first protest against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule erupted in 2011.

For the first time in Al-Qusayr’s history, Eid prayers were held in a public square. It was also the first mass gathering of residents in an open space in 13 years, following a war that destroyed 70% of the city, displaced its people, and led to its capture by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Syrian regime forces.

Al-Qusayr, a region located near the Lebanese border, was once Hezbollah’s most significant stronghold in Syria. The group withdrew after the fall of the Syrian regime in December, but its loyalists and affiliated locals remained, along with residents of several border villages that have seen sporadic clashes in recent months.

The most intense fighting occurred in February, when Syrian forces launched a military operation that pushed them into Lebanese territory and deployed troops to seal off illegal border crossings.

Tensions flared again two weeks ago after Syrian soldiers were killed in the border region, triggering an exchange of artillery fire between the two sides.

The clashes left casualties on both ends and forced the displacement of border village residents before a ceasefire was reached with the Lebanese army.

The agreement included the closure of four illegal crossings in an effort to curb the smuggling of weapons and drugs, a trade that has flourished over the past decade under the former regime.

As soon as the regime fell, refugees from Al-Qusayr living in Lebanese camps began returning to their hometown. Hundreds arrived to find their homes completely destroyed, forcing them to set up tents beside the ruins while they rebuilt or searched for alternative housing.

The residents of Al-Qusayr resumed their communal Eid traditions after Ramadan. (Sami Volunteer Team)

The large turnout for Eid prayers underscored the scale of the return.

Journalist Ahmed al-Qasir, who recently came back, estimated that about 65% of those displaced have now returned. Before the uprising, Al-Qusayr had a population of around 150,000, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Shahin, 30, who returned in 2018, described the city as a wasteland at the time, despite some 20,000 people having already come back.

“Hezbollah, regime militias, and smugglers controlled the area. There were no real markets, just small shops. Everything was in ruins—schools, clinics, hospitals,” he said.

Residents had to travel 30 kilometers to Homs for basic necessities, enduring regime checkpoints that extorted money along the way.

With the fall of Assad’s regime and Hezbollah’s withdrawal, life in Al-Qusayr has slowly begun to return to normal. Since the start of Ramadan, markets have reopened despite widespread destruction, poverty, and hardship.

On the eve of Eid, the city’s streets buzzed with late-night shopping, Shahin noted.

“Al-Qusayr is finally regaining its role as the region’s commercial hub,” he said.

According to a survey by the Sami Volunteer Team, more than 30,000 refugees returned to Al-Qusayr and its countryside within the first month of the regime’s collapse.

That number is believed to have doubled over the past four months, and team organizers expect it to rise further once the school year ends.

Zaid Harba, a member of the 40-person volunteer group, said most returnees came from refugee camps in Lebanon, while fewer arrived from displacement camps in northern Syria.

Many families there are waiting for the academic year to conclude before arranging their return.