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| - South Yemen, which was an independent state before its merger with the North in 1990, has long complained of discrimination by northern-dominated authorities. Here is some background: South Yemen became an independent country in 1967 after a bitter, four-year war against its British colonisers. Britain had occupied the area around the key port of Aden since 1839, using it to protect and refuel ships heading to and from India. The new People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was socialist and under the influence of the Soviet Union. North Yemen had been an independent state -- first a kingdom, then a republic -- since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Relations between the Saudi-backed North and the South were often tense, sparking wars first in 1972 and then in 1979. They moved towards unity in the 1980s, officially merging on May 22, 1990 to form the Republic of Yemen with the northern city of Sanaa as the capital. A separatist movement in the south sparked several weeks of civil war in 1994 but it was crushed by northern forces. The former South Yemen accounts for two-thirds of the unified country, covering the eastern regions and sharing a border with Oman. Saudi Arabia is to the north. Despite its size, it is home to only a fifth of Yemen's total population of around 28 million. Its main sources of revenue are agriculture and fisheries. Aden was capital of the independent South and has been Yemen's temporary capital since Huthi rebels forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee Sanaa in 2015. Located on the Gulf of Aden some 380 kilometres (235 miles) south of Sanaa, it is the second largest city in Yemen. With a history dating back to antiquity, it was a prosperous trading post under British rule. When Marxists took power over after the departure of the British in 1967, the city maintained its liberal traditions, unlike the more austere north. The Huthis launched their rebellion in 2014, seizing the presidential palace just months later and forcing Hadi to relocate his government in Aden. Since reunification, residents of the south have complained of being sidelined. In 2007-2008, thousands of people demonstrated in southern towns, giving birth to the Southern Movement which calls for autonomy or secession. In 2017, tensions rose again between separatists and the government after Aden governor Aidarous al-Zoubeidi was sacked by the president. Zoubeidi formed a Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist-dominated parallel authority. In late January 2018, separatist forces occupied the presidential palace in Aden, before Saudi and Emirati forces intervened. The separatists are backed by Abu Dhabi -- despite the United Arab Emirates being a key part of a Saudi-led coalition backing the government against the Huthis. In August 2019, separatists in Aden from the UAE-trained Security Belt force clashed with unionist troops backed by Riyadh. In November, the two parties signed a power-sharing accord in Riyadh, but it was never implemented. On April 26, 2020, the separatists declared self-governance for the south, ending the accord with the government. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has exploited years of chaos to establish itself in southern Yemen. Security Belt forces played a decisive role in fighting against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which were forced to withdraw from towns and cities. acm/jmy/eab/hc
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