If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

Desmond Tutu

Socotra or the Galapagos of the Middle East is one of the most diverse and unique islands on this planet. Hence, the UNESCO World Heritage status. However, this title does not provide the protection necessary to maintain or safeguard the exceptionally vulnerable fiona and fauna of the beautiful Yemeni Island.

In the year 2018, while Yemen was battling a Saudi Arabia-led and US/UK/France-backed coalition war, two cyclons hit the island. Under the guise of providing humanitarian aid, the UAE set up their military base on the island, and simultaneously, they commenced an irresponsible tourism campaign, endangering Socotra’s over 700 endemic species.

Socotra Island is accessible for people all over the world except for Yemeni. The flights lead from Socotra via Aden to Egypt or Abu Dhabi, and vice versa. All proceeds from tourism and the military basis flow to the UAE. The UAE- backed STC operate accoding to their UAE patrons’ commands.

There are several news outlets that claim that the military bases run by the UAE cather to the apartheid occupational forces of Palastine. Jointly, they carry out military drills on the strategically located occupied island, which leads to forced displacement or evacuation of the natives.

The UAE has also set up secret prisons on the island, in which they torture rape or kill the inmates.

Furthermore, lack of fuel arising from the blockade leads to deforestation, reducing the numbers of the gravely endangered emblem of the island – the Dragon-blood tree.

The UAE is engaged in trandnational theft. Not only do they steal Yemen’s national heritage and artefacts from the museums and famous sites and sell them to Western auction houses and museums. They are also looting Yemen’s natural resources, such as the Dragon-blood tree and the Sidr tree – famous for its honey. The UAE transports these rare and unique trees illegally into their country for tourist attraction display.

Do not become a wheel in a giant war machinery.