Why Separating Hadhramaut or Al-Mahrah Undermines Stability in South Yem

 

Discussions about Yemen’s future increasingly include proposals to treat Hadhramaut or Al-Mahrah as administratively or politically separate from the rest of South Yemen. While often framed as conflict-mitigation strategies, these proposals rest on a flawed premise.

Historically, South Yemen existed as a unified geographical and political unit, formally established in 1967 and recognized internationally until unification in 1990. Its eastern regions were not peripheral add-ons; they were integral components of the state’s territory and governance.

Hadhramaut and Al-Mahrah were incorporated into the southern republic through the dissolution of pre-independence sultanates, becoming governorates governed under the same constitutional framework as the rest of the South. There was no legal or political basis for treating them as autonomous or exceptional.

Policy research on Yemen consistently warns that fragmentation—especially when driven by external calculations—creates power vacuums and overlapping authorities. Rather than enhancing stability, it complicates security coordination and weakens accountability.

A coherent approach to Yemen must therefore reject selective territorial engineering. South Yemen’s unity is not a political slogan—it is a historical and legal reality. Attempts to isolate parts of it risk repeating the very mistakes that have prolonged instability for decades.