A reading of the content of the Southern National Pact
English - Thursday 11 May 2023 الساعة 09:30 am
Aden, NewsYemen, exclusive:
Despite the limited time for formulating major issues that were discussed at the Southern Dialogue Conference, which was held in Aden from 4-8 May, the conference's outputs included important decisions on the southern issue and determining the fate of the south. This was clearly aided by the long involvement of the southern components in the heart of the issue, which dates back to nearly two decades.
The forces participating in this conference came out with five documents, and this reading will touch on the content of the "Southern National Charter" as the document that includes the outlines of the approach of the southern forces and components regarding the fate of the South after 33 years of unity with the North and the imbalances that accompanied the unity in the national partnership of a unified Yemen. It eventually led to the slogan of "disengagement" and then "restoration of the southern state."
The Southern National Pact included two main axes: the first was titled "General Governing Foundations and Principles" and the second was "The Issue of the People of the South". In the first axis, the focus was on two basic elements of the formation of the state: "the land and the human being," and diversifying them. The detailed provisions of the charter dealt with defining the geography within the borders before May 22, 1990, and the human being: every citizen who lives on this geography within the social fabric of the south. The charter considered these two elements as "ruling references" for the contents of the "project of liberation and national revival" for the aspired state of the South.
Under the title of the first axis, two definitions were mentioned, one of them for the “reference of the homeland and the inclusive identity” and the other for the “reference of the human being / the people.” Ten items were allocated to the first, which included building and developing the state, equal citizenship rights, respect for identities and cultural, historical and geographical specificities for all southern regions and their maintenance within the framework of an inclusive southern identity in It remained under an Arab Islamic identity and under a federal system of government based on civil, democratic and undiminished national sovereignty. That the building of the desired southern state be based on “popular will, equal citizenship, respect for the law, and guaranteeing the right of the regions to local administration with full powers” without any central hegemony, provided that “national unity is preserved within the framework of the federal state and its constitution.” With regard to the political system of the state, the charter stipulated that it be based on the principle of separation of powers, political pluralism, and the peaceful transfer of power through elections. What is noteworthy in this clause is the "prohibition and criminalization of the formation of political parties on religious, sectarian, sectarian, ethnic, dynasty, regional or regional basis."
This axis also dealt with ensuring the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, and giving the right to make the final decision on the name of the state to the people through a popular referendum, which is repeated in some of the articles of the Charter that refer the final decision in major cases to the people and through a democratic process represented by referendum and election. This axis also dealt with defining the south as "part of the nation and the Arab, Islamic and human identity," and respect for other peoples and countries and peaceful coexistence, giving priority to the people in northern Yemen and the Arab Gulf states. It also provided for complementarity and cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism and the establishment of special educational and awareness programs for this purpose.
In defining the "human reference", the Charter touched on ensuring respect for the right to practice religious rites and rejecting the culture of extremism, terrorism, fanaticism and racism. The renunciation of violence in all its forms and the adoption of dialogue as the only means to resolve all differences in all national and political issues, and these are values whose importance a sane person does not overlook to maintain the stability of society and the state.
The charter also dealt with freedom of thought, creativity, and expression, and the adoption of a political and media discourse that unites and does not differentiate. In this regard, it stipulated the necessity of drafting a media honor charter that includes the details of the desired media discourse. He also did not miss the items related to women, youth, general and religious education, ensuring respect for the difference and difference between the schools of jurisprudence, and the regularization of all education centers within the framework of the educational institutions of the state, and this is a very important point, as such differences or discrepancies can only be resolved within the framework of the state, which is the final reference and guarantor For the freedom and controls of difference on the basis of diversity and not on the basis of pluralism that leads to conflicts that disturb the tranquility and stability of society and the state.
However, one of the clauses stipulated “protecting the southern demography, preserving and documenting the civil registry before 1990 AD, and reviewing it after that,” which may open the door to questions about the fate of thousands of northern families who settled in the south after unity, whether through intermarriage or commercial relations and other types of relations. humanity, which makes this item need to be revised or formulated in a more precise and clear manner so that it will not be misinterpreted in the future. It harms citizens who have nothing to do with the political imbalances of the path of unity.
The charter also dealt with the economic aspect, in accordance with the vision of establishing and developing the national economy in partnership between the state and the private sector, and rehabilitating the southern capital, which was affected by the exclusion and marginalization operations that were practiced on it within the acquisition of the capabilities of the national economy by the influential in the unified state, the monopoly of commercial agencies, and other practices that damaged the structure of The national economy of the unified state, south and north, made wealth concentrated in the hands of a few influential people.
Concerning the southern issue, the participants in the conference formulated a deliberate definition of the issue in light of the acknowledgment of the failure of the 1990 unity project, and the attempt to impose it by force after that by the political regime in Sana’a through the summer war of 1994. Then the second attempt to invade the south by the Houthi militia after its coup against the legitimate authority in the country.
Despite the insistence reflected in the Charter on restoring the southern state within the borders that preceded May 22, 1990, the axis dedicated to the southern issue included less strict provisions in which the signatories to the Charter gave the final word regarding accepting any solutions to the issue without restoring the southern state to the people, which is what It means arranging a popular referendum on any proposed solutions to the southern issue, according to the current data.
This item is considered a political opening by the southern political forces and components to the last remaining breath of Yemeni unity and efforts to heal the rift, but in the event that it is not picked up by the political forces in the north and the active state in the Yemeni file regionally and internationally. This door will be closed with additional reasons for the southern forces’ adherence to the project to restore the state due to the absence of initiative on the part of the northern forces to ensure unity under new conditions based on current facts and not on the usual arrogance from them since the nineties of the twentieth century.
Finally, a sane view of the political scene in the south and the course of the Southern National Dialogue Conference is not mistaken in seeing that the scene is full of logical reasons and arguments for the southerners to restore their state, especially in light of the absence of initiative by the northern political forces to adopt new tools based on moderation, fairness, and reparations in All aspects of unity that have been disrupted for 33 years.
