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Aden عدن
The old town of Aden, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano (1999)
[[file:Template:Location map South Yemen|250px|Aden is located in Template:Location map South Yemen]]<div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["%; left: Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> [[File:Template:Location map South Yemen|6x6px|Aden|link=|alt=]] Aden Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033
Country	South Yemen
Governorate	'Adan
Population (2005)
• Total	about 1,000,000 60% national South Arabian(Adeni),40% foreigners mainly from Yemen,Somalia and Africa
Time zone	GMT (UTC+3)

Aden (/ˈɑːdɛn/ AH-den; Arabic: عدن ʻAdan‎) is a seaport city in South Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately a million people. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of a dormant volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BCE. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula.

Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centers: Crater, the original port city; Ma'alla, the modern port; Tawahi, known as "Steamer Point" in the colonial period; and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Khormaksar, located on the isthmus that connects Aden proper with the mainland, includes the city's diplomatic missions, the main offices of Aden University, and Aden International Airport (the former British Royal Air Force station RAF Khormaksar), Yemen's second biggest airport. On the mainland are the sub-centres of Sheikh Othman, a former oasis area; Al-Mansura, a town planned by the British; and Madinat ash-Sha'b (formerly Madinat al-Itihad), the site designated as the capital of the South Arabian Federation and now home to a large power/desalinization facility and additional faculties of Aden University.

Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbor that comprises the modern port. The volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbor and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port. Both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1977.

Aden was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen until that country's unification with the Yemen Arab Republic. On that occasion, the city was declared a free trade zone. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden.

Climate[link]

The city of Aden has a desert climate (Köppen BWa) and is very hot throughout the year. None of its monthly average high temperatures falls below 30 °C (86 °F). Rainfall is rare.

History[link]

Antiquity[link]

A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself. Some also believe that Cain and Abel are buried somewhere in the city.^[2]

The port's convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at various times throughout history. Known as Arabian Eudaemon in the 1st century BCE, it was a transshipping point for the Red Sea trade, but fell on hard times when new shipping practices by-passed it and made the daring direct crossing to India in the 1st century CE, according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The same work describes Aden as "a village by the shore," which would well describe the town of Crater while it was still little-developed. There is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the isthmus (a tombolo) was not then so developed as it is today.

Medieval[link]

Aden, with Portuguese fleet. in Braun & Hogenberg.1590

1951 stamp depicting Steamer Point with the outside of the volcanic rim of Crater in the background

1937 stamp of Aden: Half-anna dhow

Although the pre-Islamic Himyar civilization was capable of building large structures, there seems to have been little fortification at this stage. Fortifications at Mareb and other places in Yemen and the Hadhramaut make it clear that both the Himyar and the Sabean cultures were well capable of it. Thus, watch towers, since destroyed, are possible. However, the Arab historians Ibn al Mojawir and Abu Makhramah attribute the first fortification of Aden to Beni Zuree'a. Abu Makhramah has also included a detailed biography of Muhammad Azim Sultan Qamarbandi Naqsh in his work, Tarikh ul-Yemen. The aim seems to have been twofold: to keep hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods, thereby preventing smuggling. In its original form, some of this work was relatively feeble. However, after 1175 CE, rebuilding in a more solid form began, and ever since it became a popular city attracting sailors and merchants from Egypt, Sindh, East Africa and even China.

In 1421, China's Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor ordered principal envoy grand eunuch Li Xing and grand eunuch Zhou Man of Zheng He's fleet to convey an imperial edict with hats and robes to bestow on the king of Aden. The envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden. This event was recorded in the book Ying-yai Sheng-lan by Ma Huan who accompanied the imperial envoy.^[3]

British rule[link]

Port of Aden (around 1910). Ships lying off Steamer Point at the entrance to the modern inner harbour.^[4]

Before British rule, Aden was occupied by the Portuguese between 1513–1538 and 1547–1548. It was ruled by the Ottoman Empire between 1538–1547 and 1548–1645.

In 1609 The Ascension was the first English ship to visit Aden, before sailing on to Mocha during the Fourth voyage of the East India Company.^[5]

After Ottoman rule, Aden was ruled by the Sultanate of Lahej, under suzerainty of the Zaidi imams of Yemen.

Aden was at this time a small village with a population of 600 Arabs, Somalis, Jews and Indians—housed for the most part in huts of reed matting erected among ruins recalling a vanished era of wealth and prosperity. Haines stated that it could become a major trading centre and the latter part of the British period proved him correct with Aden growing to become one of the busiest ports in the world. In 1838, Sultan Muhsin bin Fadl of the nearby state of Lahej ceded 194 km² (75 sq. miles) including Aden to the British. On 19 January 1839, the British East India Company landed Royal Marines at Aden to occupy the territory and stop attacks by pirates against British shipping to India. The port lies about equidistant from the Suez Canal, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Zanzibar, which were all important British possessions. Aden had been an entrepôt and a way-station for seamen in the ancient world. There, supplies, particularly water, were replenished. So, in the mid-19th century, it became necessary to replenish coal and boiler water. Thus Aden acquired a coaling station at Steamer Point. Aden was to remain under British control until 1967.

Until 1937, Aden was ruled as part of British India and was known as the Aden Settlement. Its original territory was enlarged in 1857 by the 13 km² island of Perim, in 1868 by the 73 km² Khuriya Muriya Islands, and in 1915 by the 108 km² island of Kamaran.

In 1937, the Settlement was detached from India and became the Colony of Aden, a British Crown colony. The change in government was a step towards the change in monetary units seen in the stamps illustrating this article. When the Indian Empire went its independent way, Indian rupees (divided into annas) were replaced in Aden by East African shillings. The hinterland of Aden and Hadhramaut were also loosely tied to Britain as the Aden Protectorate which was overseen from Aden.

Aden is known for its boat-oriented stamps. Mukalla is on the Hadhramaut coast, about 500 km east of Aden, in what was then the Aden Protectorate.

Aden's location also made it a useful entrepôt for mail passing between places around the Indian Ocean and Europe. Thus, a ship passing from Suez to Bombay could leave mail for Mombasa at Aden for collection. See History of postage in Aden.

After the loss of the Suez Canal in 1956, Aden became the main base in the region for the British.

Aden sent a team of two to the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia.

Little Aden 1955 to 1967[link]

Little Aden is still dominated by the oil refinery built for British Petroleum. Little Aden was well known to seafarers for its tanker port with a very welcoming seaman's mission near to the BP Aden tugs' jetties, complete with swimming pool and air conditioned bar. The accommodation areas for the refinery personnel were known by the original Arabic names of Bureika and Ghadir.

A street scene at the old town of Aden. 1999

Bureika was wooden housing bunkhouses built to accommodate the thousands of skilled men and labourers imported to build the refinery, later converted to family housing, plus imported prefabricated houses "the Riley-Newsums" that are also to be found in parts of Australia (Woomera). Bureika also had a protected bathing area and Beach Club.

Ghadir housing was stone built, largely from the local granite quarry; much of this housing still stands today, now occupied by wealthier locals from Aden. Little Aden also has a local township and numerous picturesque fishing villages, including the Lobster Pots of Ghadir. The army had extensive camps in Bureika and through Silent Valley in Falaise Camp, these successfully protected the refinery staff and facilities throughout the troubles, with only a very few exceptions. Schooling was provided for children from kindergarten age through to primary school, after that, children were bussed to The Isthmus School in Khormaksar, though this had to be stopped during the Aden Emergency.

Federation of South Arabia and the Aden Emergency[link]

In order to stabilize Aden and the surrounding Aden Protectorate from the designs of the Egyptian backed republicans of North Yemen, the British attempted to gradually unite the disparate states of the region in preparation for eventual independence. On 18 January 1963, the Colony of Aden was incorporated into the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South against the wishes of the communists of North Yemen who claimed the city and south Yemen as part of their territory. The city's populace as the State of Aden and the Federation was renamed the Federation of South Arabia (FSA).

An insurgency against British rule known as the Aden Emergency began with a grenade attack by the communist's National Liberation Front (NLF), against the British High Commissioner on 10 December 1963, killing one person and injuring fifty, and a "state of emergency" was declared.

In 1964, Britain announced its intention to grant independence to the FSA in 1968, but that the British military would remain in Aden. The security situation deteriorated as NLF and FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen) vied for the upper hand.

In January 1967, there were mass riots between the NLF and their rival FLOSY supporters in the old Arab quarter of Aden town. This conflict continued until mid February, despite the intervention of British troops. During the period there were as many attacks on the British troops by both sides as against each other culminating in the destruction of an Aden Airlines DC3 plane in the air with no survivors.

On 30 November 1967 the British finally pulled out, leaving Aden and the rest of the FSA under NLF control. The Royal Marines, who had been the first British troops to occupy Aden in 1839, were the last to leave—with the exception of a Royal Engineer detachment.

Independence[link]

Aden in 1960

Aden became the capital of the new People's Republic of South Yemen which was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970. With the unification of northern and southern Yemen in 1990, Aden was no longer a national capital but remained the capital of Aden Governorate which covered an area similar to that of the Aden Colony.

On 29 December 1992, Al Qaeda conducted its first known terrorist attack in Aden, bombing the Gold Mohur Hotel (/ˌɡoʊld ˈmɔər/), where U.S. servicemen were known to have been staying en route to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. A Yemeni and an Austrian tourist died in the attack.^[6]

Aden was briefly the centre of the secessionist Democratic Republic of Yemen from 21 May 1994 but was reunited by Republic of Yemen troops on 7 July 1994.

Members of al Qaeda attempted to bomb the US guided-missile destroyer The Sullivans at the port of Aden as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots. The boat that had the explosives in it sank, forcing the planned attack to be aborted.

The bombing attack on destroyer USS Cole took place in Aden on 12 October 2000.

In 2007 growing dissatisfaction with unification led to the formation of the secessionist South Yemen Movement. According to the New York Times, the Movement's mainly underground leadership includes socialists, Islamists and individuals desiring a return to the perceived benefits of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.^[7]

Main sights[link]

Aden has a number of historical and natural sites of interest to visitors. These include:

• The historical British churches
• The Zoroastrian Temple
• The Cisterns of Tawila—an ancient, water-cachement system located in the sub-centre of Crater.
• Sira Fort
• The Aden Minaret
• The Palace of the Sultanate of Lahej/National Museum
• The Aden Military Museum
• The Rimbaud House
• The fortifications of Jebal Hadid and Jebal Shamsan
• The beaches of Aden and Little Aden
• Al-Aidaroos Mosque

Economy[link]

Aden's economy had benefitted by being a port, especially being a free port, and part of the British Empire, so there was frequent trade between Yemen and India. Also the port was the stop ships had to take when entering the Bab-el-Mandeb, this was how cities like Mecca had received goods by ships. Yemen Airlines, the national airline of South Yemen, had its head office in Aden. On 15 May 1996 Yemen Airlines merged with Yemenia.^[8][9]

Transportation[link]

Aden's harbor in 1960

The city is served by the Aden International Airport, an ex RAF Station and is 6 miles (9.5 kilometres) away from the city.

• Scheduled flights (as in December 2006):
  • Djibouti Airlines: Djibouti
  • Royal Jordanian: Amman
  • Yemenia: Abu Dhabi, London, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah, Mukalla, Sanaa, Seiyun, Socotra, Rome, Mumbai, Riyan
  • Felix Airways: Sanaa, Al Mukalla

See also[link]

• British military history
• History of postage in Aden
• History of the Jews in Aden
• Port of Aden

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Norris, H.T.; Penhey, F.W. (1955). "The Historical Development of Aden's defences". The Geographical Journal CXXI part I. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aden

• Aden Free Zone
• Old Aden picture postcards
• Aden Airways
• Aden at WN

Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033

v t e 'Adan Governorate Capital: Aden Districts Al Buraiqeh District Al Mansura District Al Mualla District Ash Shaikh Outhman District Attawahi District Craiter District Dar Sad District Khur Maksar District

Sheikh Sharif Hassan Adan (Somali: Shariif Xasan Sheekh Aadan, Arabic: شريف حسن الشيخ عدن‎) is a Somali politician. He is a former Finance Minister of Somalia, and the current Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP). He hails from the Adan Mirifle (Siyeed) Ashraaf sub-clan of the Rahanweyn (Digil and Mirifle) major clan.^[1]

Career[link]

Speaker of Parliament (1st term)[link]

In 2005, Sheikh Sharif Hassan was opposed to the establishment of a new capital in Jowhar, which was the preference of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi, demanding the capital be returned to Mogadishu. Baidoa was selected as a compromise location.^[2]

On October 6, 2005, he was quoted as saying, "In my view, Ethiopia does not want a functioning government in Somalia and I want to see that the world knows this. Even if Ethiopia does want a government here, it wants a fiefdom government - multiple governments which are all weak."^[3]

On January 17, 2007, the Parliament voted to oust him due to his opposition of a peacekeeping force for Somalia and his expressions of support and unauthorized meetings with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU)^[4] which acted against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and his opposition to Ethiopian intervention in the 2006–2007 Somali war, with 183 votes against him, eight in favor and one abstention.^[5][6] Justice Minister Adan Mohamed Nuur became his successor in Parliamentary elections on January 31, 2007, and sworn in on February 3, 2007.

Finance Minister[link]

On February 20, 2009, Sharif Hassan was appointed as Finance minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.

Speaker of Parliament (2nd term)[link]

Election[link]

On May 25, 2010, Sharif Hassan was re-elected Speaker of the Transitional Federal Government's Parliament.^[7]

Stand-off[link]

On October 14, 2010, President of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed appointed former First Secretary in the Somali embassy in Washington, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, as the nation's new Prime Minister.^[8] A row between Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan and the President then developed over whether the scheduled vote of confidence on Mohamed's nomination should be decided by a show of hands or via a secret ballot. Sharif Hassan favored a secret ballot while Sharif Ahmed preferred hand-raising, with the deciding voting session repeatedly postponed. The Supreme Court of Somalia subsequently ruled that the vote should be conducted by a show of hands, consistent with how previous confirmation votes in parliament had been decided since 1960. A delegation from the UN, AU and IGAD, including the Special Envoy to Somalia, also flew in to attempt to help resolve the impasse.^[9] On October 31, 2010, the vote of confidence was held, with lawmakers overwhelmingly approving Mohamed's appointment as Prime Minister. 297 of the 392 Members of Parliament endorsed the selection via hand-raising; 92 MPs voted against and 3 abstained.^[10][11] United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also issued a statement commending the Somali leadership for having reached a consensus on procedural arrangements that facilitated a transparent and consultative confirmation of the new Premier.^[12]

Kampala Accord[link]

After months of political infighting between the Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan and President Sharif Ahmed over whether to hold presidential elections in August 2011, the two politicians struck a deal in Kampala on June 9, 2011 to postpone the vote for a new President and parliamentary Speaker for one year in exchange for the resignation of the Premier within a period of thirty days. Overseen by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the U.N. Special Envoy to Somalia Augustine Mahiga, the signed Kampala Accord would also see the well-regarded technocratic Cabinet that Prime Minister Mohamed had assembled in November 2010 re-composed to make way for a new government. Political analysts have suggested that the agreement may have been a bid on President Sharif Ahmed's part to fend off attempts by the Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan to force him from power by pre-emptively "sacrificing" the Premier.^[13] Sharif Hassan is also reported to harbor presidential ambitions of his own.^[14]

Announcement of Prime Minister Mohamed's proposed resignation was immediately met with protests in various cities. Thousands of civilians, many government soldiers, and some legislators marched through the streets of Mogadishu, calling for the dismissal of the President, the Parliament Speaker and the Parliament.^[15][16] The crowd also demanded that the Premier be reinstated and described Mohamed as the "only honest leader in recent years".^[15] Posters of the UN Special Envoy were symbolically burned, with protestors appealing to the UN Secretary General to dismiss Mahiga due to what many felt was the latter's infringement on Somalia's sovereignty through his signing of the Kampala agreement.^[17] Attacks on hotels in which members of parliament were staying and at least five deaths were also reported. Additional demonstrations against the Premier's resignation were held in Galkacyo, a key trading city in the north-central Mudug region, as well as in Belet Hawo in the far south.^[15] Internationally, protests also reportedly took place in Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Sydney, London, Rome, Stockholm, Minneapolis and Toronto.^[17]

In response, Prime Minister Mohamed released a statement through the state-run Radio Mogadishu commending the military for its rapid response and urging its troops to exercise restraint. He also appealed to the public to calm down, and indicated that "I have seen your expressions and heard your calls[...] You are part of the decision making — what you want must be heard."^[15] Additionally, in a press conference, the Premier called for the immediate release of all protestors who had been detained, and stated that his administration would launch an independent investigation into their arrest.^[18] Weighing in on the demonstrations, Mogadishu's Mayor Mohamed Nur suggested that "what [the demonstrators] have a problem with is that two people go and decide the fate of this government without considering the feelings of this population", and that putting the issue before Parliament for approval is a more democratic course of action.^[19]

On June 11, 2011, Prime Minister Mohamed released a statement indicating that the Kampala decision ought to be presented in Parliament for debate and appraised according to the laws stipulated in the national constitution. The Premier also stated that he would only step down if lawmakers voted to uphold the accord.^[20] This was echoed by the Cabinet, which indicated in a press release that, after having convened to discuss the Kampala decision, the Ministers agreed that the accord must be put before Parliament for evaluation.^[21] In addition, over 200 parliamentarians reportedly sought to urge the Prime Minister to reconvene Parliament so as to deliberate the decision, indicating in a separate statement that the accord deprived MPs of their legislative role vis-a-vis the government.^[20]

On June 12, 2011, President Sharif Ahmed released a statement wherein he condemned the protests, describing them as "illegal".^[21][22] He also suggested that some government officials were financing the rallies in Mogadishu, and warned that the Al-Shabaab group of Islamists that is waging war against the federal government could try to exploit the gatherings to launch terrorist attacks.^[22]

The same day, news reports surfaced indicating that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon would sack Special Envoy Augustine Mahiga on account of a lack of tangible progress made and public confidence in Mahiga's work in Somalia. UN sources also stated that, due to prevalent allegations of graft, the Secretary General would fire half of the senior staff in various UN bureaus, including the UNPOS, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and OCHA.^[17]

In an interview on June 16, 2011, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs of Italy, Alfredo Mantica, expressed support for Prime Minister Mohamed's position with regard to the Kampala agreement. Mantica stated that the Italian government believed that the accord ought to be reviewed in Parliament. He also indicated that "the prime minister has been in office five months. And [it is too] early to judge his work. But what he has done so far has been very positive. It has achieved important results. The government already seemed a miracle[...] The strength of the instability in Somalia is a constant. And the prime minister represents stability."^[23]

On June 19, 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned from his position as Prime Minister of Somalia. Part of the controversial Kampala Accord's conditions, the agreement would also see the mandates of the President, the Parliament Speaker and Deputies extended until August 2012, after which point new elections are to be organized. In his farewell speech, Prime Minister Mohamed indicated that he was stepping down in "the interest of the Somali people and the current situation in Somalia". He also thanked his Cabinet for its efforts in improving the security situation and the standards of governance in the country.^[24]

Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Mohamed's former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, was appointed as Acting Premier later the same day.^[25][26] A few days later, on June 23, 2011, Ali was named permanent Prime Minister.^[27]

Prime Minister Mohamed's resignation was immediately met with anger by the general public and many lawmakers. Apprehension regarding a possible resurgence of governmental corruption and lassitude, long-standing problems which Mohamed's administration had made significant strides toward eradicating, were cited as primary reasons for the consternation. According to one legislator, many policy-makers are trying to repeal the Kampala decision, as it also "subject[s] the country to trusteeship." Another MP indicated that "lawmakers are united in their opposition to the deal" and "will object [to] it until we throw it away".^[28]

Observers have suggested that Mohamed's resignation could offer militants an opportunity to capitalize on the situation and set back the territorial gains made by his administration in the ongoing insurgency in southern Somalia. They have also opined that firing the Premier would not resolve the long-standing power struggle between President Sharif Ahmed and Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan, but may inadvertently exacerbate and prolong it. Additionally, political analysts have suggested that the Kampala agreement presents other potential long-term issues, such as facilitating intervention and meddling by neighboring countries, with the Ugandan government's role as the final arbiter, in particular, cited as problematic.^[29]

Responding to the Kampala decision, the Al-Shabaab insurgent group's head of policy and regions, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, told reporters on June 22, 2011 that the accord ended in failure since it was "an example [of how] the country is managed by Uganda" and that "it is clear for the Somali people and the international community that [the] Kampala meeting [on] Somalia was aimed to coerce the Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed to step down". In addition, the spokesman suggested that Somalia's citizenry was aware of what was going on and that it did not recognize President Sharif Ahmed and the Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan as legitimate governmental authorities. He also reiterated his group's call for Ugandan troops to withdraw from the country.^[30][31]

On June 24, 2011, lawmakers reaffirmed their opposition to and intention of repealing the Kampala decision. The Chairman of the federal Information, Public Awareness, Culture and Heritage Committee, Awad Ahmed Ashareh, indicated that 165 legislators had tendered a motion in Parliament opposing the agreement, but the Speaker rebuffed it. Ashareh also stated that MPs would issue a vote of no confidence vis-a-vis the Speaker Hassan if he continued to refuse to permit debate to take place, suggesting that Hassan's refusal "contravenes the Charter and rules of procedure."^[32]

Following talks with parliamentarians, President Sharif Ahmed asserted on June 28, 2011 that, on account of opposition amongst legislators to the Kampala decision, the accord would be brought before Parliament for deliberation. He also indicated that the agreement would not be implemented unless approved by lawmakers.^[33]

Notes[link]