Colony of Aden - Foreign Policy Issues

Foreign Policy Issues

Aden was located in a vital strategic location, on the main shipping routes between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. During the days of Empire, the value of the port was in providing key communications and bunkering facility between the Suez Canal and India. Even after the independence of India, Aden continued to be regarded as a vital asset in Britain’s world wide defence network. By 1958 Aden was the second busiest harbour in the World, after New York. “Its importance cannot be overestimated, as it is the base that protects British oil interests in the Persian Gulf” . The Little Aden oil refinery was essential to the economy of Aden as it could process 5 million tons of crude oil annually and formed one of the Colony's only exports. The safety of this refinery was a clear priority for the government of Aden.

"As a temporary expedient, the Aden base has the merits of a stabiliser at a moment when the Yemen is split by civil war, when the Saudi Royal house has not yet made itself a name for consistent rule, when the Iraqi and Syrian governments are prone to overnight revolutions and when Egypt’s relations with both of them are uncertain”.

For much of Aden’s later history, relations with the UAR (United Arab Republic) were of primary consideration. “The Formation of the UAR in 1958 increased the importance of Aden as a British military base in this troubled corner of the world”. However even before the formation of the UAR, Arab Nationalism had been growing in the awareness of Adeni's. "In 1946 Students protested that the anniversary of the founding of the Arab league had not been made a public holiday"

The most serious problem facing Aden in the late 50’s and 60’s was the relationship with the Yemen and Yemeni raids along the borders. But the adherence of Yemen to the UAR created a delicate situation and several political problems arose. Immigration into the Colony being a major concern of the local Arab workforce.

Previously to the creation of the UAR, peace in Aden it was admitted came not from the presence of the tiny garrison, but from a lack of Arab poles of attraction for malcontents.

However some contemporary writers, such as Elizabeth Monroe thought that the British presence in Aden may have been self-defeating, as it provided a casus belli for Arab nationalists. So rather than supporting British peace efforts in the region, Aden was actually the cause of much anti-British sentiments in the region.

“As in Kuwait prosperous older men appreciate the advantages of the British connection, but young Arab nationalists and a vigorous trade union movement think it humiliating”.