In May 2004, Guardian columnist Mark Seddon reported that while visiting a black market north of Sana’a, he found L1A1 Self-Loading Rifles among a selection of various other firearms.

The guns were British-made, and one of many reminders of “Britain’s century and a half in command of Aden, once the most strategic ports in the world.” Others include military cemeteries, a scaled replica of Big Ben called “Little Ben,” postboxes, and the occasional pound banknote.

The British left southern Yemen in defeat. They were unable to quell a major anti-imperial insurgency during the Aden Emergency, and in the fallout of their withdrawal, the Marxist-Leninist cadre outflanked their allies to create the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen.