Aden infighting embodiment of UK’s divide-and-conquer legacy: Analyst

A Yemeni activist and political commentator says the recent infighting between Emirati- and Saudi-backed militants in the southern port city of Aden is the embodiment of the UK’s “legacy of divide and conquer.”

Hussain al-Bukhaiti made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that the regimes in Riyadh and Abu Dahabi — which have been leading a military campaign against Yemen — are after partitioning the impoverished country.

The warning came in the wake of deadly clashes between UAE-backed southern separatists and Saudi-led militants loyal to ex-Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in Aden, a gateway for commercial and aid supplies.

Both camps serve the Riyadh-led coalition, and have been engaged, since 2015, in a bloody military campaign against Yemen aimed at reinstating Hadi, who resigned in 2014 and later fled to the Saudi capital.

The clashes erupted weeks after the UAE announced a surprise plan to withdraw its troops from Yemen in a major blow to its coalition allies.

PressTV-Saudi-led coalition attacks Emirati-backed militia in Aden

The Saudi-led coalition that has invaded Yemen attacks a position of militia backed by coalition partner the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Aden, describing the site as “a threat.”

Bukhaiti rejected a rift between the rival Aden militants, saying they are jointly pursuing Yemen’s disintegration.

“I cannot call it a rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” he said. “The main goal of the war on Yemen is to split Yemen, is to divide Yemen."

“Saudi Arabia is interested in al-Mahrah region near the Omani border because they believe they can build an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia that would reach the Gulf of Aden or the Arabian Sea. The United Arab Emirates wants to control all Yemeni islands, especially Socotra Island and Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” he added.

The Sana’a-based activist also stressed that the Aden battle has exposed Saudi Arabia’s main goal in Yemen, which is “to bring back the legitimacy of Hadi to Sana’a.”

The violence, he noted, is actually “a type of the UK legacy which is divide and conquer,” said Bukhaiti. “So, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are just the tools of the United States and the United Kingdom and that’s why they want to separate Yemen, divide Yemen, and destroy the entire country.”

He further estimated that the Sana’a government, affiliated to the Houthi movement, is currently “in control of about 80 percent of Yemen population.”

“The Saudis started the war because they do not want any agreement between Yemenis. The national dialog means that the Saudis cannot intervene in Yemen and that the United States will have no influence,” he said.

The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and led to a massive humanitarian crisis.

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