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Political Flags - Yemen

Last modified: 2024-09-07 by ian macdonald
Keywords: yemen | political flags | socialist party |
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Overview

Yemen is a one party dominant state in which the General People's Congress (GPC) holds power. Opposition parties are allowed and elections are regularly held.

The main political parties which hold seats in the (unicameral) House of Representatives (Majlis al-Nuwaab) (official website: http://yemenparliament.gov.ye) until February 2015 prior to being dissolved by the Houthis are:

  • GPC (General People's Congress, Arabic: المؤتمر الشعبي العام‎, transliterated as al-Mu'tammar al-Sha'bi al-'Am) (Government party) (official website: http://www.almotamar.net). established on August 24, 1982.
  • Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-Tajmu al-Yamani li al-Islah) (frequently called al-Islah, Arabic: التجمع
    اليمني للإصلاح‎ ) (Opposition party) (official website: http://www.al-islah.net). Established on September 13, 1990. In 2011, the party participated in the Yemeni uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh
  • Yemen Socialist Party (Hizb al-Ishtirakiya al-Yamaniya) (Opposition party) (official website: http://www.aleshteraki.net). Established in 1978, it was the ruling party in South Yemen before unification
    in 1990. During the 1994 Civil War it fought against government forces and was defeated. The party was largely pardoned except for key leading figures, but the leaders within Yemen reorganized following the civil war and elected a new politburo in July 1994. However, much of its influence had been destroyed in the war. President Ali Abdallah Saleh was elected by Parliament on 1 October 1994 to a 5-year term. However, he remained in office until 2012, being pardoned (which was one of the main reasons for the Yemeni Revolution of 2011-2012).
  • Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation (Arabic: التظيم الوحدوي الشعبي الناصري‎, transliterated as Al-Tantheem Al-Wahdawi Al-Sha'abi Al-Nasseri) (al-Tantheem al-Wahdawi al-Sha'bi al-Nasseri) (Opposition party) (official website: http://www.alwahdawi.net). In 2011, the party participated in the Yemeni uprising against
    President Ali Abdullah Saleh
  • National Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party - Yemen Region (Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي القومي - قطر اليمن‎ , transliterated as Hizb Al-Ba'ath Al-Arabi Al-Ishtiraki Al-Qawmi – Qutr Al-Yaman) (Allied with the Government party) (official website: http://www.al-ehyaa.net). Established in 1959, was clandestine until reunification in 1990 and was registered as the National Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party on February 10, 1997. It had initially sought to register as the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1995, but that name was given by the authorities to another Ba'athist group.
Also, there have been alliances and coalitions for several years as well. The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) was formed in 2005 by five opposition parties to effect political and economic reform. It includes the northern-based, tribal, and Islamist-oriented Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) and the secular Yemen Socialist Party (YSP), which represents the remnants of the former South Yemeni leadership. According to Al Jazeera English, it was formed in 2002 and includes Islah, Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), Hizb Al-Haq (a semi-religious party), the Unionist party, and the Popular Forces Union party. The Common Forum includes the five biggest opposition groups in Yemen, including Reform, Socialist, Nasserist, Popular Force and al-Haq. (Likely just another name for the JMP.)

During the Yemeni Revolution (dubbed locally "Revolution of the Youth") of 2011-2012 a coalition was announced: the National Council for the Forces of the Peaceful Revolution was declared on August 17, 2011 to unite the opposition groups, parties, coalitions, and youth protesters. Among the 143 representatives elected to sit on it are leaders from Al-Islah, the South Yemen Movement, established in 2007 and uses the South Yemen flag, the Alliance of Yemeni Tribes, and the defected First Armoured Division. An actual uprising took place, in which the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-Islah) and the Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation participated in armed clashes against the Armed Forces.

During the Houthi rebellion they are the de facto ruling authority after the coup of February, 2015.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_People%27s_Congress_(Yemen)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Islah_(Yemen)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Socialist_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_Yemeni_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

Esteban Rivera, 30 July 2020

Ansar Allah (Houthi movement)

[Flag of Houthi Movement] image by Esteban Rivera, 27 November 2023
based on photo

The larger slogan right above the rifle reads: "Ansar Allah" ("Supporters of Allah"), a slogan that is affiliated with the Shia-Muslim, Yemen "Houthi Movement", but also used by other Middel East militias. This logo is that of the Yemen "Houthi Movement." The flag's design mimics the logo of Hezbollah. There is a flag-pole sleeve at the right (hoist) in this image.
William Garrison, 2 November 2023

[Flag of Houthi Movement] image by Esteban Rivera, 27 November 2023
Logo source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ansar_Allah_Logo.svg
William Garrison, 2 November 2023

The Houthi movement (Arabic: ٱلْحُوثِيُّون‎ , al-Ḥūthīyūn), officially called Ansar Allah (Arabic: أَنْصَار ٱللَّٰه "Supporters of
God") and colloquially simply as Houthis, is an Islamic political party (which also has an armed wing, known as الحوثيين الزيدية المسلحة (English: Armed Zaydi Houthis) that emerged from Sa'dah in northern Yemen in 1994 (other sources mention 1992). It traces its roots back to a moderate theological movement that preached tolerance and held a broad-minded view of all the Yemeni peoples, as a consequence that its members felt marginalized and discriminated by the Hashemites and the Yemeni government at that time. This theological movement, of Zaidi influence was known as الشباب المؤمن (English: "The Believing Youth" (BY)), established in 1992 in Sa'dah Governorate. Ansar or Ansari (singular) (Arabic: الأنصار‎ al-Anṣār, "The Helpers") were the local inhabitants of Medina who, in Islamic tradition, took the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers (the Muhajirun) into their homes when they emigrated from Mecca during the hijra. The movement is commonly known as Houthi movement or simply Houthis because its founder is from the Houthi tribe.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_movement,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slogan_of_the_Houthi_movement and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansar_(Islam)

[Taiz Separatist Flag] image by Esteban Rivera, 30 July 2020
based on http://www.thetower.org

The Houthis flag is their logo (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Houthis_Logo.png) on a vertical rectangular white background banner, as seen here: http://www.yemenfox.net/userimages/mag/1/210/777/u82.jpg (source: http://www.yemenfox.net/news_details.php?sid=22966). The logo reads: "Houthi logo reading "God is Great, Death to (United States of) America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam".

For additional information go to Ansar (o) Allah (official website): http://ansaroallah.com

Esteban Rivera, 30 July 2020

[Taiz Separatist Flag] image located by William Garrison, 25 July 2024

A diagonal-flag variety of the "Ansar Allah" ("Houthi movement") as seen at a Houthi office in Baghdad, Iraq; c. 24 July 2024.
William Garrison, 25 July 2024

[Flag] image located by William Garrison, 3 April 2023

From https://www.thetimes.co.uk, a Houthi political/militia flag; male-portait may be that of its leader: Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi; c. Nov. 2021.
William Garrison, 3 April 2023

"Knowledge and Jihad" youth flag

[Flag] image located by William Garrison, 21 August 2024

From https://www.memri.org, supposedly a white-field "Ansar Allah" movement flag; c. spring 2023.
Original caption: Children holding Houthi flags during a recent camp program (Source: Saba' News Agency, April 28, 2023)
William Garrison, 16 June 2023

[Flag] image located by William Garrison, 21 August 2024

A flag of the "Ansar Allah" youth organization with at the top its motto (reading right-to-left): "aleim wal jihad" or translated into English as: "Knowledge and Jihad". [jihad = جِهَاد ] This Shiite-Muslim "Houthi" movement in Yemen, since the 1990s, has held yearly summer camps for school-age boys and girls. The Houthi leadership ascribes great significance to these summer camps as a means of instilling its religious and political values in the younger generation, with the goal of ultimately recruiting them to fight against its Arab and Western enemies. Flag seen in Sanna, the capital of Yemen, on June 9, 2024 (Image: Saba.ye/en) Motto source showing multiple sizes and uses of this flag is at: https://www.memri.org/reports/houthi-summer-camps-children-teach-jihad-sake-allah-hatred-west
William Garrison, 21 August 2024


General People's Congress

[Taiz Separatist Flag] image by Tomislav Todorovic, 30 July 2020

General People's Congress (المؤتمر الشعبي العام‎), GPC, was established on August 24, 1982 in Sana'a, North Yemen, becoming an umbrella organisation that sought to represent all political interests, that is: Baathists, Socialists, and members of Islam (up until some point). It became the majority party and won all elections until the 2011 Houthi insurgency started.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_People%27s_Congress_(Yemen)

The flag is a light blue horizontal background with the party's emblem (a horse in brown color) in the middle.

Image based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_People%27s_Congress_(Yemen)#/media/File:General_People's_Congress_flag.svg , source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_People%27s_Congress_(Yemen)
As a rule, the horse is fimbriated white, although there are a few exceptions. The shade of brown also varies somewhat; most frequently, the horse looks as the reproduction taken from a photo. The hooves may sometimes be white, merged with the fimbriation, which is also an exception to the rule.

Sources:

Tomislav Todorovic, 30 July 2020

Taiz Separatist Flag

[Taiz Separatist Flag] image by Tomislav Todorovic, 4 June 2017

From a story from last year about separatists in Yemen's Taiz province:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/republic-taiz-yemen-resistance-1769604821

The proposed flag of Al Janad, a region that would include Taiz and Ibb provinces, is a horizontal tricolour of red, sky blue, and yellow.

More photos here:
http://www.sahafah24.net/show65818.html
http://voice-yemen.com/news87700.html
https://twitter.com/arabianofelix/status/642329993075363840
Brendan Hennessy, 2 June 2017

About 2015 in Janab (Taizz, Ibb) was attested a flag of black, white, green horizontal stripes (photos in Flag Report 79).
Jaume Ollé, 2 June 2017


Yemeni Congregation for Reform

[Flag of Al-Islah] image by Tomislav Todorovic, 4 June 2017

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah (التجمع اليمني للإصلاح‎‎ , at-Tajammu’u al-Yamanī lil-Iṣlāḥ), is a Yemeni Islamist party founded on September 13, 1990. It is more of a loose coalition of tribal and religious elements than a political party. Its origins are in the Islamic Front, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated militia funded by Saudi Arabia to combat the Marxist National Democratic Front. The Islamic Front regrouped after the unification of Yemen in 1990 under the banner of the Islah Party with considerable financial backing from Saudi Arabia
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Islah_(Yemen)

Its flag(?) is seen here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_the_Yemeni_Congregation_for_Reform_(al-Islah).svg

For additional information go to al-Islah (official website): http://www.al-islah.net
Esteban Rivera,, 3 June 2017

The image is presented as the "party flag" on the Wikipedia page dedicated to the party. However, the individual image is clearly labelled and captioned "party logo". Accordingly, there is a need for more solid evidence that the logo is actually used on a flag.

A blue flag with the party seal is featured on a photo without any caption. I have some doubt regarding the authenticity of the photo after zooming it - the seal seems to have been applied on the photo of a blue flag.
Ivan Sache, 4 June 2017

The party does use this flag. Photos of it can be found here:
http://www.eremnews.com/news/arab-world/yemen/565140
http://yemen-press.com/news41476.html
http://www.hunaaden.com/news3578.html
http://yemen-press.com/news33310.html
http://adengd.net/news/220299/
https://arabi21.com/story/1004334

The size of rising sun seems to vary somewhat, and the party name may be inscribed beneath it, although this seems to be done rarely - only one of these examples seems to display it. The shade of blue seems to be very close to FOTW color B-, perhaps just a bit more "greenish", and the ratio is 2:3 or very close.

Image above of described flag; derived from the SVG image of the logo from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_the_Yemeni_Congregation_for_Reform_(al-Islah).svg

As can be seen, Wikipedia is not completely wrong when displaying that image as the flag, although the ratio does differ.
Tomislav Todorovic, 4 June 2017


Yemen Socialist Party

[Flag of Yemeni Ministry of Interior] image by Randy Young, 20 February 2015