The Houthi and <PERSON> Confrontation is Taking Yemen to a Dangerous Place · Global Voices
Major General <PERSON>, Minister of Defense the day he arrived arrived in Aden. Tweeted by @Yemen411 on March 8, 2015.
Another key member of Yemen's government has escaped the Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a in the north for the southern port city Aden. Defense Minister Major General <PERSON> arrived in Aden on March 8.
The Houthis, a ten-thousand strong tribal militia from the north, forcefully occupied the presidential palace in Yemen's capital city on January 21.
Since they first entered Sana'a on September 21, 2014, the Houthis have taken over key government buildings, the airport, Yemen Central Bank, and income-generating national corporations like the Safar Oil Company.
General <PERSON>'s March 8 escape is seen as a big boost to President <PERSON>, who is building a rival power center in the south with loyal army units and tribes against the Houthis.
On March 7, a <PERSON> aide claimed the president said, “Aden became the capital of Yemen as soon as the Houthis occupied Sana'a.”
<PERSON> escaped the capital Sana'a with his family after being under Houthi-imposed house arrest for a month.
<PERSON> tendered his resignation a day after the Houthi took over his presidential palace. When he escaped and reached Aden, 400 kilometers away from the capital on February 24, <PERSON> released a statement saying Yemen’s parliament had not accepted his resignation, so he is still president. <PERSON> then denounced all political agreements made by the Houthis in Sana’a since they took over.
Anti-Houthi voices celebrated <PERSON>’s prison break from Sana'a. Some worry that <PERSON> might have motivated the Houthis to invade Aden. And others believe <PERSON> is recklessly hijacking existing tensions between the north and south of the country.
The separatist sentiment remains popular in the south, where Yemenis feel economically and politically marginalized by the north. The Houthis belong to tribes from the north, and <PERSON> belongs to a southern tribe.
Being in Aden is symbolic and dangerous
The once-thriving coastal city Aden is Yemen’s second largest. Aden is the former capital of South Yemen, which was an independent state until 1990, when it unified with North Yemen. 90
Unhappy with Sana’a in 1994, South Yemen declared its secession again from the north. A civil war ensued, and the north ended up occupying the south.
The Houthis’ unilateral excessive use of power in Sana'a and our northern provinces has led the south to refuse any orders coming from them and they are organizing their own armies to defend themselves if the Houthis attack.
The Houthi populist movement
The Houthi uprising against the government started in 2004. Since then, Yemen's power center in Sana'a has alleged that the Houthis want to overthrow them and implement Shia religious law. The Houthis have maintained that they are “defending their community against discrimination” and government aggression.
Most Houthis adhere to a branch of Shia Islam called Zaidism. Zaidis make up one-third of Yemen's population and ruled North Yemen for almost 1,000 years until 1962.
Yemen's government under previous President <PERSON> and current President <PERSON> has accused Iran of financing the Houthi insurgency. From 2004-2010, the government brutally tried to crush their rebellion.
In 2011, the Houthis joined a mass uprising against <PERSON>. They soon expanded their territorial control in Saadah and neighbouring Amran province.
Before September 21, 2014, no one in Yemen thought that the Houthis could possibly reach the capital Sana’a and no one thought that the Houthis would even consider waging a civil war that they were bound to lose.
It was shocking when Sana’a was surrounded by the Houthi militias. They demanded that subsidies on fuel prices stay in place.
They also promised to fight corruption and to implement the outcomes from the unprecedented National Dialogue Conference (NDC), which took place after the 2011 uprising in Yemen. This also helped fuel Houthi popularity.
The NDC was a 10-month deliberation process between <PERSON>, and representatives from the Houthis, political parties, and youth and women organizations. The conference was supposed to help Yemen transition fairly from 33 years of <PERSON> rule, but the various groups failed to reach consensus about addressing concerns of the south.
With the Houthis popularity and power increasing, President <PERSON> gave into their demand to set up a technocrat government.
But that wasn’t enough; they marched into Sana’a. 90