Al-Akhdam

The Achdam (Arabic أخدام, DMG aḫdām, also Akhdam; singular خادم, DMG Hadim, servants ', also Khadem, Khadem; proper name المهمشون al - Muhamaschūn, the marginalized ') are a population group in Yemen. They are distinguished by their darker skin color from the rest of the population and as a lower " caste " in low-status occupations is limited and affected by discrimination. Their number was officially estimated in 2004 at about 500,000, other estimates for 2007 by more than one million of a total population of 22 million from.

The origin of the Achdam is not precisely known. The most common theory is that they are descendants of Ethiopian soldiers from the Aksumite Empire, who conquered the Yemen about 1500 years ago. These were left behind after the end of the Ethiopian occupation and held by the local population as servants or slaves.

With the revolution of 1962 slavery and hereditary social classes were abolished, the Achdam remained a de facto segregated from the rest of the population. Today the Achdam live mainly in urban slums - about 100,000 of them in the capital Sana'a, others in Aden, Taiz and other cities - with below-average living conditions.