Aden: The Last Base

Britain’s Aden Colony consists of 75 sq. mi. of bleak volcanic rock at the southwestern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Though hot as hell’s hinges, Aden is a prosperous city of some 300,000; its port, one of the world’s busiest, has virtually the only good harbor on the 3,400-mile sea haul from Suez to India. Aden is also headquarters for the 40,000 troops of Britain’s Middle East Command who stand guard over the Persian Gulf. In the setting sun of empire, Britain has been shoved out of bases from Egypt to Iraq, and does not intend to have the same thing happen in Aden. But last week it was having some trouble holding on.

Jumble of Sheiks. The British rule Aden, the majority of whose people are immigrants from neighboring Yemen, through a tame Legislative Council. During the 123 years they have held Aden, the British have gradually extended their influence inland by establishing a protectorate over a jumble of sheiks, emirs and sultans ruling such unlikely states as Lahej, Qishn, Upper Aulaqi and Lower Yafa. Submission was all that Britain required: not until recently did the British build schools or roads throughout the 112,000 sq. mi. of the protectorate.

In the 1950s, rising Arab nationalism led to frequent border raids by Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Yemenites indignantly claim the entire Aden region as South Yemen. In response, Britain decided to band the protectorate’s pint-sized potentates into a federation. After some kicking and screaming, eleven of the 23 sheikdoms joined up. Next, the British moved to merge Aden Colony with the protectorate to offset the independence agitation. Chief agitator: the city’s Trades Union Congress, led by a bumptious, Redlining young airline clerk named Abdullah Asnag, whose slogan runs, “One People, One Yemen, God Is Great.”

Dragged Governor. As the British prepared last month to ram the federation proposal through Aden’s Legislative Council, Labor Boss Asnag whipped up excitement at a series of rallies. “This is not unity but slavery!” he cried. “Instead of more freedom we get less. We are going backward. From a British colony we are now becoming a protectorate of the British and the sheiks!” When Asnag told the crowds, “You are the people and can do anything; you can hang your enemies and drag ministers, even the British Governor himself, through the streets,” he was jailed for incitement to riot. Last week he got what he wanted. Thousands of his followers rioted through the narrow streets of Aden, burned the offices of a pro-federation newspaper, destroyed cars, set fire to shops. Police opened fire, killing three rioters and wounding six.

The council nevertheless passed the federation plan, which must now be approved by Britain’s Parliament and will probably be enacted by March 1963. Abdullah Asnag, released from prison, vowed continued resistance. Said Middle East Command’s CinC, Air Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy: “Terrorism doesn’t frighten me. This command is on continuous twelve-hour alert for action anywhere, and it can operate regardless of any misguided campaign here. Aden is the only rampart between the Mediterranean and Singapore, and ours is the only force defending Western interests in the Middle East.”