al-Toghmah faction victory
34-483: [REDACTED] Abdul Fattah Ismail ( MIA ) Former President [REDACTED] Ali Antar † Vice President [REDACTED] Saleh Muslih Qassem † Defense Minister [REDACTED] Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas Prime Minister [REDACTED] Ali Salem al Beidh YSP Politburo member [REDACTED] Ali Nasir Muhammad President The South Yemen civil war , colloquially referred to in Yemen as
68-538: A British Petroleum workers’ training center and began working in an oil refinery from 1956 to 1959 as an apprentice. In this setting Abdul Fattah began to develop a political consciousness centered around union organizing and labour advocacy. As a co-founder of the Arab Nationalist Movement in South Yemen, he contributed to the formation of a number of Movement cells before he was arrested by
102-695: A brief series of border skirmishes in 1972 . Following the failure of the insurgency in Oman in 1978 and simmering hostilities with North Yemen including the Yemenite War of 1979 , Ismail had lost favour with conservative elements of the Yemeni Socialist Party and alienated his country from much of the region and the West. The Soviet Union, upon which South Yemen relied for the vast majority of its trade and financial aid, had also lost confidence in
136-518: A full-time socialist revolutionary, whereby he undertook the leadership of the NLF underground military wing (fedayeen) in Aden, as well as political activity. He was elected to the NLF executive in the first, second and third NLF congresses, 1965–67. After South Yemen gained independence in 1967 he was appointed Minister of Culture and Yemeni Unity. In the fourth NLF congress, he was instrumental in determining
170-436: A resolution stating that anyone who resorted to violence in settling internal political disputes is considered a criminal and a betrayer of the homeland. On January 13, 1986, bodyguards of Ali Nasir Muhammad opened fire on members of the Yemeni Socialist Party politburo as the body was due to meet. As most of the politburo members were armed and had their own bodyguards, a firefight broke out. Ali Nasir's supporters were not in
204-477: A violent struggle in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and Abdul Fattah's supporters (See South Yemen civil war ). Fighting lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties and Ali Nasir's ouster. During the crisis, Abdul Fattah disappeared. He was last seen being evacuated from the YSP office along with his deputy Ali Salem al Beidh in a military armored vehicle. Unsubstantiated reports claim he
238-433: The 1994 war started demonstrations calling for their reinstatement or compensation. The protests gradually developed into a movement for autonomy or independence of the former PDRY. Abdul Fattah Ismail Abdul Fattah Ismail Ali Al-Jawfi ( Arabic : عبد الفتاح إسماعيل علي الجوفي , romanized : ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Ismāʿīl ; 28 July 1939 – 13 January 1986) was a Yemeni Marxist politician and revolutionary who
272-685: The British colonial authorities in Aden for political incitement of workers. In 1961, he became a school teacher at Al-Haswah School in Aden, and at the same time continued his involvement in political activity. He was a co-founder of the National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (NLF). After the outbreak of the Aden Emergency where the NLF sought for the liberation of South Yemen from British colonial rule, Abdul Fattah became
306-618: The General Secretary, policymakers within the Brezhnev administration regarding him as a loose cannon and a liability. As a result, Moscow began to encourage moderates within the YSP to remove him from power. In 1980, believing that his political rivals within the YSP were preparing to assassinate him, Ismail resigned and went into exile . His successor, Ali Nasir Muhammad , took a less interventionist stance toward both North Yemen and neighbouring Oman . The Yemeni Socialist Party
340-721: The NLF, renamed the Yemeni Socialist Party in 1978. His government helped establish Marxist paramilitary organizations around the Arabian Peninsula , PFLOAG and PFLO , which used political activism and violence to campaign against the Western-aligned Arab monarchies on the Persian Gulf . Under Ismail, South Yemen gave its most direct support to the later of these two groups during the Dhofar Rebellion in neighbouring Oman, providing advisors to
374-628: The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) by the Soviet Union , Czechoslovakia , Iraq , Libya and Cuba . The fighting was short-lived; the war ended 23 days later, on 19 October, by a ceasefire . This was followed by the Cairo Agreement of 28 October, which put forward a plan to unify the two countries in a "republican, national and democratic" state, based on "free and direct" elections. South Yemen instigated and funded
SECTION 10
#1732773265420408-630: The YSP at the first party congress in October 1978. Ideologically, he is considered to have favored the Soviet model of socialist development (as opposed to Maoist alternatives). In October 1979, Abdul Fattah secured the 1979 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR. Similar treaties with East Germany and Ethiopia followed in 1981, following Abdul Fattah's resignation from office. In 1980, he resigned from all his posts for allegedly health reasons and
442-594: The YSP following a 12-day 1986 civil war between forces loyal to former chairman Abdul Fattah Ismail and then-chairman Ali Nasir Muhammad . An Ismail ally, he took control after Mohammad's defeat and defection, and Ismail's death. Suffering a loss of more than half its aid from the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1989, and an interest in possible oil reserves on the border between the countries, al-Beidh's government worked toward unification with North Yemen officials. Efforts toward unification proceeded from 1988. Although
476-556: The border with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen). The South Yemeni air force (PDRYAF) also started bombing the areas invaded by the Northerners, and their military positions. Over the course of one such mission, on 30 September, a PDRYAF MiG-17 fighter was shot down and its pilot killed. In the end, South Yemeni counterattacks supported by air strikes caused over 200 casualties to the invaders, and recovered all of
510-462: The deaths of Abdul Fattah Ismail, Ali Antar, Saleh Muslih, and Ali Shayi'. Some 60,000 people, including Ali Nasir and his brigade, fled to the YAR. In the conflict that took the lives of anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 people, Ali Salem al Beidh was one of the few high-ranking officials of Abdul Fattah's faction on the winning side who survived. A former Politburo member, al-Beidh took the top position in
544-564: The end of the Aden Emergency and the achievement of South Yemeni independence in 1967, the National Liberation Front (NLF) was handed power over the country following negotiations in Geneva with the British government. A broadly left-wing nationalist insurgent organization, the NLF had sought to unite the forces of the Aden petroleum and port workers' trade unions, Nasserites , and Communists. The last of these factions
578-580: The establishment of the Democratic Republic of Yemen on 21 May. The southern resistance however failed. Saleh enlisted Salafi and Jihadist forces to fight against Southern forces of the Yemeni Socialist Party . Forces loyal to Ali Nasir also took part. Northern forces entered Aden on 7 July, resulting in the sacking of the city. In 2007 southern army officers and security officials who had been forced into retirement after
612-503: The events of '86 , the events of January 13 , or simply as the events , was a failed coup d'etat and brief civil war which took place on January 13, 1986, in South Yemen . The civil war developed as a result of ideological differences, and later tribal tensions, between two factions of the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), centred on Abdul Fattah Ismail 's faction, at-Toghmah, and Ali Nasir Muhammad 's faction, az-Zomrah, for
646-527: The governments of the PDRY and the YAR declared that they approved a future union in 1972, little progress was made toward unification, and relations were often strained. In 1990, North Yemen and South Yemen united into one country, but in February 1994, clashes between northern and southern forces started and quickly developed into a full-scale civil war. As northern forces advanced on Aden, al-Beidh declared
680-584: The insurgent forces there, in addition to ensuring the transit of Warsaw Pact and Chinese weapons to the rebels. He also encouraged Communist guerrillas in North Yemen , seeking to destabilize the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh and bring about Yemeni unification under a Communist government based in the South. This antagonism toward the North would stoke tensions between the two Yemens, eventually culminating in
714-419: The leadership of the YSP and South Yemen. The conflict quickly escalated into a costly civil war that lasted eleven days and resulted in thousands of casualties. Additionally, the conflict resulted in the demise of much of the Yemeni Socialist Party's most experienced socialist leadership cadre , contributing to a much weaker government and the country's eventual unification with North Yemen in 1990. Following
SECTION 20
#1732773265420748-601: The lost territory. Overall, during the short war, the Southern military demonstrated its capability to run well-planned operations. Its logistics system proved adequate, and the air force's actions in ground-attack and supply missions were deemed effective. During the conflict, the Yemen Arab Republic (North) was supplied by Saudi Arabia , Jordan , Egypt , Iran , the United Kingdom and the United States and
782-425: The meeting room at the time. Vice-president Ali Ahmad Nasir Antar, Defense minister Saleh Muslih Qassem and the YSP disciplinary chief Ali Shayi' Hadi were killed in the shootout. Abdul Fattah Ismail survived the attack but was apparently killed later on that day as naval forces loyal to Ali Nasir shelled the city. Fighting lasted for 12 days and resulted in thousands of casualties, the ouster of Ali Nasir's, and
816-468: The military hostilities. Prime Minister Ali Nasir Muhammad survived an assassination attempt by SAL rebels on May 22, 1972. Six persons were sentenced to death for plotting to overthrow the government on July 9, 1972. Saudi Arabia continued to oppose South Yemen and supported the Northern Yemeni troops in the upcoming struggle. The war, initiated by North Yemen, started on 26 September 1972,
850-480: The progressive line of the revolution. But in March 1968, he was arrested by the right-wing faction of the NLF and went into exile, where he drafted the program for Accomplishing National Democratic Liberation, a leftist manifesto. He undertook a leading role in the consolidation of left wing of NLF which subsequently regained power in the 22 June 1969 " Corrective Move ." Subsequent to the "Correction Step" Abdul Fattah
884-652: The tenth anniversary of the start of the North Yemen Civil War . A force composed of members of different political groups and exiled tribesmen from South Yemen, equipped with Alvis Saladin armoured cars provided by Libya and artillery donated by the North Yemeni military, invaded South Yemen in the Qatabah area. In response, the South Yemenis brought several of their battalions to the area of
918-405: Was declared its General Secretary. Ismail pursued aggressive and revolutionary domestic and foreign policies. At home, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen adopted a Marxist-Leninist scientific socialism as the official state ideology. All major industries were nationalized and collectivized, universal suffrage was implemented, and a quasi-cult of personality was developed around Ismail and
952-620: Was elected Secretary General of the NLF Central Committee, thus making him the country's de facto leader. He was also elected a member of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council. In 1970 he was elected Chairman of Presidium. He undertook a leading role in the dialogue between NLF and other left parties in south Yemen leading to the formation of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP). He was elected Secretary General of
986-456: Was increasingly polarised between Ismail's supporters, who espoused a hard-line leftist ideology, and those of Ali Nasir Muhammad who espoused more pragmatic domestic policies and friendlier relations with other Arab states and the West. The Soviet Union attempted to play a mediating role from its naval base in Yemen which hosted 1,000-1,800 troops in 1986. In June 1985, the YSP politburo adopted
1020-745: Was killed when naval forces loyal to Ali Nasir shelled his home in Aden, but his ultimate fate is unknown. His body was never found. First Yemenite War Status quo ante bellum The First Yemenite War was a short military conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY; South Yemen). South Arabian League (SAL) rebels attacked positions in eastern South Yemen, arriving from Saudi Arabia on February 20, 1972. The rebels were defeated by South Yemen government troops on February 24, 1972, with some 175 rebels killed during
1054-517: Was led by Abdul Fattah Ismail , a founding member of the NLF and its chief Marxist ideologue. During the Emergency, Ismail had led the armed cadres of the NLF in Aden, and was supported by many of the insurgents who had seen action against the British. In 1969, with support from the Soviet Union , Ismail used this popularity among the nascent South Yemeni army to seize control of the NLF, and in June he
South Yemen civil war - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-677: Was never found. Abdul Fattah was born on 28 July 1939 in the Al-Hujariah district of the Taiz Governorate in North Yemen . Though his father was a faqīh (Islamic jurist), he had a poor and rural upbringing. He subsequently followed his elder brother to Aden (which was then a British protectorate ) where he was educated at the Ahliah School in Tawahi district. When he was approximately seventeen, Abdul Fattah enrolled in
1122-539: Was succeeded by Ali Nasir Muhammad . However, Abdul Fattah was appointed president of the party before he went to Moscow for medical treatment, until 1985, when he returned in the face of a mounting crisis between Muhammad and his opponents in the YSP. In October 1985, he was elected to the YSP Politburo and as a Secretary of the Central Committee, but the crisis had erupted on 13 January 1986, into
1156-412: Was the de facto leader of South Yemen from 1978 to 1980 after the overthrow of President Salim Rubaya Ali . He served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council (head of state) and founder, chief ideologue and first leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party from 21 December 1978 to 21 April 1980. He died under mysterious circumstances during the 1986 South Yemen Civil War and his body
#419580