In recent days, much attention on southern Yemen has focused on Aden, where Yemen’s internationally recognized government has been clashing with the pro-independence Southern Resistance forces. That Saudi Arabia supports the former and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the latter, such recent escalation of violence in the temporary capital for Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government has raised major questions about the Riyadh-led Arab coalition and Yemen’s ability to overcome its members’ political differences.

Developments in Yemen’s easternmost al-Mahra governorate, which also belonged to South Yemen during its official existence (1967-1990), are simultaneously heightening concerns about different Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states’ opposing interests undermining the prospects for conflict resolution in Yemen. Last year, the UAE formed the "Mahri Elite Forces," which took after the Emirati-backed elite forces in other Yemeni provinces including Abyan, Aden, Hadhramaut, Lahj and Shabwa. Abu Dhabi tasked the force with securing al-Mahra’s land and sea borders to take on arms smugglers. These forces were to take control of al-Mahra’s entry points, as well as the airport in al-Ghayda.

Certain tribal figures in al-Mahra objected to the UAE’s actions in the province, in no small part based on Abu Dhabi’s support for southern independence. Also, as al-Mahra has so far been spared the horrors of Yemen’s civil war and Salafist-jihadi terrorists have not spilled blood in the governorate, locals had concerns about the coalition’s growing involvement in al-Mahra dragging the peaceful province into the country’s war. Nevertheless, the UAE has not addressed such legitimate concerns on the part of local tribes in al-Mahra as the Emiratis continue advancing their agenda in the Yemeni governorate.

Thus when the Mahri Security Committee eventually agreed to the coalition’s actions in al-Mahra, the body did so with caveats, including that al-Ghayda airport not be transformed into a military base of the coalition; that the coalition’s actions in al-Mahra be done in coordination with local authorities; and that al-Mahra’s administrative, security and military team remain intact. Following a meeting in which these stipulations were agreed upon, locals praised the coalition-backed forces and vowed to work with them against entities engaged in arms smuggling while coordinating humanitarian aid and economic development. In December 2017, the coalition declared that al-Mahra’s airport became operational and started receiving inflows of humanitarian assistance.