Dilemmas of British diplomacy in connection with the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen (September 1962 - February 1963)

The article examines the position of Great Britain towards the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen in September 1962 - February 1963. The aim of the article is to identify the reasons of the United Kingdom's refusal to recognize the Republican regime in Sanaa. The article is written on the basis of unpublished archival documents. In September 1962, the anti-monarchist revolution occurred in Yemen. This Arab country became a republic. Because of proclamation of Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) the British leaders faced a dilemma: whether to accept the republican regime in Yemen and begin to build relations with a new regime, or to support the royalists in accordance with British colonial interests in the south of Arabia. Initially, Harold Macmillan's government took a wait-and-see attitude. It did not want to recognize the YAR at least until mid-November of 1962, when the hearings on the unification of Aden and the Federation of South Arabia in the House of Commons were due to end. The British government stated that the republican authorities in Sanaa did not control the entire territory of Yemen. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom indicated the reason for the British fluctuations in the form of a conflict between the short-term and the long-term interests of the UK. The interests of the next few years, such as the preservation of British influence in Aden, were considered more important than the long-term goal of establishing cooperation with the forces of Arab nationalism. Harold Mac-millan saw a compromise between these conflicting interests in recognizing the YAR de facto and promised to recognize it de jure when the Egyptian troops were withdrawn from Yemen. As a result, the republican authorities in Sana closed the British diplomatic mission in Yemen. A few years later, the United Kingdom was forced to leave Aden and lost much of its political leverage in Yemen. Nowadays, the United Kingdom risks to repeat the same mistakes, getting involved, even indirectly, in the dangerous game led by some regional forces in Yemen.

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