The North-South Divide as a Conflict Driver

Introduction and structure of the module
Disputes between North and South Yemen have a long history. From 1967 to 1990, South Yemen - back then called the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen - was an independent country. In 1990, North and South Yemen were reunified.  
How has the divide re-emerged? What is the North-South divide today and how does this cleavage add to the conflict dynamics on the ground? This eLearning module addresses these questions and also discusses how the North-South divide relates to other conflict cleavages such as power and representation, socio-economic factors, the rural-urban divide and religion. 

From 'Al-Hirak' (The Southern Movement) to the Southern Transitional Council

The Southern Movement arose from a sit-in by former military officers protesting their forced retirement and denial of an adequate pension in May 2007. It quickly developed into a mass movement that held demonstrations at regular intervals in the major cities of the South. The demands raised on these occasions were initially limited to equal access to state positions and services, political and economic decentralisation, the introduction of (actual) rule of law, and better economic management of the country.[1] 

With the Arab Spring that began in January 2011, the vision of secession became capable of winning majority support within the Southern Movement.[2] The major goal of the Southern Movement is secession from the North. But, so far, it remains unclear who actually represents the South as there is no single Hirak, but rather multiple movements under the same name led by various leaders in different regions.[3] These different movements are motivated by their geographical and historical origins, backed by various foreign powers, and divided by their demands for independence or autonomy.[4] Hence, the most pressing question until today is who legitimately represents the interests of South Yemen and who can be considered the legitimate representative of the Southern Movement.

In 2017, the pro-independence Southern Transitional Council (STC) was formed that now holds most of Yemen’s four southern governorates.[5] Thereby, the formerly fragmented Southern Movement was further institutionalised. Yet, the STC does not represent all actors of the South. In contrast, the distance between the STC and some actors in South Yemen is rather big, which makes it difficult for them to recognise the STC as their formal representative bpdy.

In 2019, the STC signed an agreement with the internationally recognised government of Yemen, the so-called Riyadh Agreement. This was supposed to settle the armed conflict between the North and the South that had begun when the STC had expelled the government from Aden, one of the most important Yemeni cities in the South and the STC's temporary capital. By now, the STC is one of the main actors in Yemen and definitely one to consider in conflict management and mediation attempts. Although the South’s independence does not seem currently tenable, the demands of Southern Yemen must be considered at any negotiation table.

The North-South divide as a conflict driver

The historically rooted divide between Northern and Southern Yemen and the problem that there has never been positive symbols of unification, adds to the dynamics of the Yemeni conflict until today. Among the core problems are the unequally distributed access to power and representation between the North and the South and the political marginalisation of the Southern population. Also in terms of development and socio-economic advancement, the South of Yemen falls back behind the North - that is despite the South's rich natural resources. Also the high degree of fragmentation in the South adds to further destabilisation. 
Such factors can add not only to the emergence of a civil war[6], they can also add to ongoing conflicts as drivers. 

Implications for future peace negotiations

What does that mean for future peace negotiations? And how does the North-South divide need to be addressed? By now, the Southern issue has become one of the conflict's main elements and thus occupies a prominent position in all conflict management endeavours. Without addressing it, a comprehensive settlement of Yemen's multistate conflict will be very hard to reach[7]. As mentioned above, an inclusion of representatives of the Southern Movement in peace talks is not optional but simply necessary in order not to fuel the South's secessionist aspirations. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXk-k5oA1rs

Summary and Outlook
This module has briefly explained the re-emergence of a historically rooted cleavage, namely the North-South divide in Yemen. Despite the formal unification of the country in 1990, this cleavage is now more present than ever, with the South of the country striving for secession. While often underestimated in conflict analyses, it has become clear that the North-South divide constitutes one of the main challenges to peace negotiations in Yemen and should thus be explicitly addressed in any measures of conflict management. 
The next module, "conflict mediation", will pick up on that point and discuss the possibilities for conflict mediation in Yemen both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective.