Written by: Nobel Peace laureate Tawakkol Karman

Directing his speech to the UAE’s forces and its high commissioner in Yemen at a recent news conference, Aden’s governor Abdul Aziz al-Muflehi said: “You have to treat us as partners, not followers, and we refuse each attempt to divide us into cantons.”

This reveals how the forces of the United Arab Emirates behaves in Yemeni areas under their control; they deal with representatives and officials of Yemen’s legitimate authority as subordinates who should only abide by what they want without argument or hesitation.  

The UAE insists on dividing the areas, which have been liberated from the Houthi militia and forces loyal to ousted president Saleh, into cantons, each headed by a militia trained without the knowledge of the legitimate authority, while the leadership is entrusted to individuals who are provided with enough money and weapons that make them owe allegiance to them rather than to the legitimate authority. 

As the UAE continues to undermine the entity of Yemen with premeditation, and insists on insulting the Yemenis and humiliating their dignity with such disregard, it plays with fire and will harvest nothing but failure and loss. 

Emirati bet is that there is a racist fascist militia( the Iran-backed Houthi militia) allied with a human monster with the rank of a demon, and that Yemenis will prefer any evil to this militia and its ally and accept any insult no matter its size.

This is a losing bet because Yemenis have other options and would never accept the choice between bad and worse: either you or the coup’s alliance. 

There is a third option: we reject the coup and you have to leave our country before you are forced to do that.

O Zayed Al Nahyan’s children, listen! We have nothing left to lose except our homeland for which we will fight no matter how great sacrifices are. You have to stop gambling! You must achieve your declared goal of empowering Yemen’s legitimate authority to extend its influence and sovereignty over the national territory, otherwise you will be invaders. 

“Dragon blood tree is much more expensive than Burj Khalifa,” said a young Yemeni man while expressing against your occupation of Yemeni islands and attempts to fragment our national entity. To my eyes, this statement reflects the general mood among young people.  

A remote mountain village in Yemen is more majestic and stronger than your glass towns, another said. 

Aden’s governor was also quoted as saying: “How miserable feeling it is when a close neighbor causes you additional pains at such critical moments.”

The governor was intentionally or unintentionally pointing the red card at your faces on behalf of the people when making his statement, and therefore you have to take it seriously and come back to reason!