By: Abdullah Ali Sabri The Limits of Yemeni Sovereity over Bab al-Mandab

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Why do foreign ships have the right of innocent passage through the Bab al-Mandab Strait?

Is Yemen entitled to close the strait in the face of international shipping or impose traffic fees on commercial ships in peacetime? Why does Yemen not benefit from the right of visit and inspection of warships and civilians?

It is common knowledge that international navigation across the Bab al-Mandab Strait is governed by crucial laws with no rights to benefit the Yemeni state, whose right to sovereignty over the strait is recognized by the world, but which deprives it of the essence of this sovereignty when it warns against any prejudice to the international movement and freedom of navigation. And disregarded the Yemeni reservations towards the international laws that led to the internationalization of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

They ignored the geopolitical privacy which may grant our country special privileges if Yemen has a capable state and political system that does not compromise its rights and does not turn a blind eye to the violation of its sovereignty.

What are these rights that are absent, and are they based on a legal basis on which to build?

I am not a lawyer nor familiar with the law, but reading some of the legal visions regarding the international navigation organization leads to gaps that reveal the successive colonial plots on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, leading to its internationalization in accordance with the international law of the sea issued by the United Nations and the convention it establishes in 1982. To this day ..

Originally, the Strait of Bab al-Mandab is within the territorial waters of Yemen, and no country has the right to delay its voyages without prior permission from Yemen. However, the above-mentioned agreement gives foreign vessels the right of innocent passage, which means: Except in the case of force majeure.

There is no doubt that this type of traffic, most often, deprives Yemen of the benefit of the Strait and its strategic location, based on the principle of maritime freedom in the sea water and air navigation over those waters.
There is no doubt that this principle and the law have been specifically designed to serve the interests of the major Powers without regard to the national interests of States and peoples in these corridors.

The Straits are governed by international law. The neighboring countries (Yemen, Djibouti, Ethiopia) have not entered into any special agreement to regulate the passage of vessels through Bab al-Mandab. Yemen has the advantage of the Miyoun Island, which is in the middle of the strait, , Under which Yemen exercise its legal right to close the strait and impose a traffic fee on commercial and military vessels!

Some may object to this interpretation, but imposing the vision of the colonial powers on Yemen is not free of reservations related to debate and debate in international law on water jams.

There are even those who believe that the innocent traffic regime developed by the major powers was intended to internationalize the Bab al-Mandab Straits and try to control the Arab-Israeli war and the dispute over the disputed Strait of Tiran between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the imposition of shipping charges which Yemen is entitled to regulate in accordance with local law, which takes into account the economic and security interest of our country and the right of innocent passage which permits the suspension of transit of ships in straits if the ship breaches the security, safety or order of the coastal States, Charges for services provided to ships as they pass through the Strait.

This means that Yemen has had the right and continues to regulate the passage of ships across the Straits and to force them to stop and provide services in the Yemeni ports, especially the port of Aden, as Britain was doing during its occupation of the south of the country, which will positively affect the national economy and the development of Aden port, The rise of the Dubai International Port, which would not have reached this status without the indulgence of the political system in Yemen before and after unity, and lack of a national administration exploits the geographical location of Yemen, which is imposed by the colonial powers while Yemen is the last to know how to benefit from this strategic location!

Bab al-Mandab in times of war and aggression
If Yemen can benefit from Bab al-Mandeb economically by providing extension services and navigators to ships and facilitating its anchoring in the Yemeni ports and providing them with economic services, the importance of this strait during wartime is much more important in peacetime. Yemen has the right to close the strait in case of aggression against our country Or any violations against Yemen, and our country has the right to take precautionary measures to combat maritime piracy, drug dealers and others.

In times of war and unrest, Yemen has the right to visit and inspect all warships, whether civil or civilian, and may send signals to ships to ensure that they do not carry weapons or instruments that harm the military position or national security. Traffic if necessary!

This same thing was done by Egypt in the 1973 war with the countries that help Israel politically and logistically, which is also done by Yemen in the Strait of Bab al-Mandab in solidarity with Egypt Abdel Nasser!
After the war, the importance of Bab al-Mandab doubled with the intensification of international competition over the Arab oil. The crisis in Somalia since the nineties of the last century has forced the major countries to take practical steps to protect international shipping in the Horn of Africa, near Bab El Mandab. Which had established military bases in Djibouti and Eritrea for that purpose, and it was inconceivable that China had recently entered this line.

In addition to the military bases, dozens of American, Russian, Iranian and US naval vessels and barges landed in the territorial waters of the Red Sea, in anticipation of any developments that prevent the continuation of navigation.
In this region. Currently, the Saudi-UAE invasion and occupation forces control Bab al-Mandab, Mina al-Mukha and on the island of Miyun, the port of Aden.

In addition to the free service of America and Israel, the UAE is hindering any rise in Yemeni ports so as not to be at the expense of its ports and airports. On March 26, 2015, the Arab Alliance is the so-called storm of packages that claimed to restore legitimacy from the hands of what it described as the Houthi coup.

The September 21 revolution gave the people of God a broad political and security authority, and imposed fears the fate of international navigation in Bab al-Mandab under the new authority that the Gulf media does not stop linking to Iran.

The concerns of Arab national security and the green light of America formed an unprecedented joint Arab force to launch an aggression and an unjust and comprehensive blockade on the Yemeni people. After September 21 radically different from Yemen (political) dealt with by Saudi Arabia since the seventies of the last century, Saudi Arabia found itself in front of a new map, which saw the need to intervene militarily to restore things to normal (although the supporters of God were open to relations of mutual respect with Saudi Arabia) , Was the head of a The Zionist entity Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war on Yemen when he warned of the control of the (Houthis) on Bab al – Mandeb ..

This warning found in many Arab and international capitals including Egypt and the UAE, Egypt found itself surrounded by these concerns, linked to the impact of Bab al – Mandab On the navigation in the (Suez Canal), noting that the supporters of God provided the necessary assurances through the Egyptian ambassador, who was one of the last ambassadors who left Sanaa ahead of the aggression on Yemen.

Thus formed the concerns and ambitions of Saudi Arabia Emirati Israeli-Egyptian, towards the war and aggression against Yemen under the guise of restoring legitimacy and protection National security Yemen, and the establishment of an Emirati military base in the island of Mayon, known as the Bab al-Mandab.

The national forces opposed to the Saudi-American aggression realized the danger of violating international navigation in the Red Sea and across the Straits of Bab al-Mandab. And the right of passage in the sea despite the impact of the aggression and siege.

Although international law allows Yemen the right to close the strait and inspect ships passing through the territorial and internal waters of Yemen, this exercise was aimed at removing fears that were formed as pretexts of war On Yemen I am sure that the escalation of the battle in the sea and around Bab al-Mandab by the army and the popular committees and the missile and naval forces will deter the countries of aggression that committed to America and the international forces complicit in securing navigation in the region and isolating Bab al-Mandab from the theater of military confrontations.

The siege of the Bab al-Mandab is assisted by the national forces that are against aggression, and although they have warned and declared their legitimate right to target The military battleships of the forces of aggression, and carried out a number of qualitative studies already, but it has not yet announced the closure of the strait in the face of international navigation.. I would say that if it did, the war had stopped early… But can Yemen still be able to make such a move?!!

Source :Website