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Yemen Arab Republic

Coordinates: 15°21′17″N 44°12′24″E / 15.35472°N 44.20667°E / 15.35472; 44.20667
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This article is about the historical country that existed from 1962 to 1990. For the present-day sovereign state, see Yemen. For the group that controls most of what was North Yemen, see Houthis.

Yemen Arab Republic
الجمهورية العربية اليمنية (Arabic)
al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘arabiyyah al-Yamaniyyah
1962–1990
Anthem: "Peace to the Land" (1962–1978)
إرادة أمة
'Iiradat 'Uma
"A Nation's Will" (1978–1990)
Location of North Yemen (red)
Location of North Yemen (red)
Capital
and largest city
Sanaa
Official languagesArabic
Religion
Islam (official, predominantly Zaydi Shia and Shafi'i Sunni Islam)
Demonym(s)Yemeni
GovernmentUnitary Nasserist Islamic republic under a military junta[1][2]
President 
• 1962–1967 (first)
Abdullah al-Sallal
• 1967-1974
Abdul Rahman al-Eryani
• 1974-1977
Ibrahim al-Hamdi
• 1977-1978
Ahmad al-Ghashmi
• 1978–1990 (last)
Ali Abdullah Saleh
Prime Minister 
• 1962–1963 (first)
Abdullah al-Sallal
• 1983–1990 (last)
Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani
LegislatureConsultative Council
Historical eraCold War
26 September 1962
1 December 1970
22 May 1990
Area
• Total
136,000 km2 (53,000 sq mi)
[[1]]
• Estimate
6,100,000 (1981)
CurrencyNorth Yemeni rial
Time zoneUTC+3
Calling code+967
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kingdom of Yemen
Republic of Yemen
Today part ofYemen

The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; Arabic: الجمهورية العربية اليمنية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘arabiyyah al-Yamaniyyah, French: République arabe du Yémen), commonly known as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country that existed from 1962 to 1990 in the northwestern part of what is now Yemen.[3] Its capital was at Sanaa. It united with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (commonly known as South Yemen) on 22 May 1990 to form the current Republic of Yemen.

History

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Part of Ottoman Empire and Mutawakkilite Kingdom

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Further information: Kingdom of Yemen

Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 after the First World War, northern Yemen became an independent state as the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.

Kingdom of Yemen flag in the UN.

The first king of the independent country was Yahya Muhammad Hamid ad-Din. Having declared Yemen's independence from the Ottomans, he proclaimed himself king and And achieved international recognition for the kingdom in 1926. Hamid ad-Din created the kingdom's first regular army. He fought a war with Saudi Arabia and did not recognize his border with the British protectorate of Aden, leading to periodic clashes with British troops. But he focused primarily on consolidating his power and creating a viable central government and appointed his sons to rule various provinces of the kingdom. After almost 30 years of rule (30 October 1918 – 17 February 1948 as a king), he was assassinated in what became known as the Al-Waziri coup. He was succeeded by his son, Ahmad bin Yahya. Like his father, Ahmad was an conservative. Ahmad's ruthless, arbitrary, and inconsistent rule made him the target of coup attempts and frequent assassination attempts, which he narrowly escaped. His enemies ranged from ambitious family members to forward-looking pan-Arabists and Republicans.[3] His abrupt temperament and unpredictable behaviour united and set against him a variety of enemies.[4] The monarchy deliberately exploited the kingdom's highly fragmented tribal society and exploited frequent tribal wars for remaining in power. In foreign policy, his only constant goal was to expel Britain from Aden in order to annex it to his kingdom. But he was not destined to realize his ambitions: he died suddenly in his sleep on September 19, 1962.

Throughout the existence of the absolute monarchy, Yemen was a very underdeveloped state. The complete conservatism of the kings and the unwillingness of the absolute monarchy to modernize in general brought with them the unfortunate but quite logical consequences of an underdeveloped economy and almost complete absence of roads or motor transport. The kingdom was predominantly an agricultural country. The rule of Hamid ed-Din (Although Hamid ad-Din took some steps towards creating a modern state, they were not enough) and especially Ahmad was always autocratic and conservative; Ahmad never brooked suggestions. Yemen remained a semi-feudal state, where is every detail, no matter how insignificant or trivial, had to be approved by the imam, even for a government truck to move in Taiz or for mules to get fodder.[5]

The overthrow of the monarchy and the beginning of a civil war

[edit]
Further information: North Yemen civil war

The Yemeni kingdom's lack of modernity and development led to revolutionary and anti-monarchist ideas in various layers of society. The army also fell victim to dissent. It had many anti-monarchist soldiers and officers with Republican and Nasserist views. In 1962, at least four plots against the king were planned in Yemen, two of which were prepared by military commanders.

Abdullah al-Sallal, one of the main organizers of the coup (in military uniform), 1962.
Royalist forces camp, 1962.

But King Ahmad died suddenly, throwing the plotters into disarray.[6] His son Muhammad al-Badr was crowned in his place on September 19. Badr promised to modernize Yemen so that it could “catch up with the caravan of world progress.”[6] We will probably never know whether he had any intention of implementing the promised reforms in the long term, because the military revolutionaries quickly switched its plot from the king to his son. Just a week after Badr's coronation, a coup took place in Sana'a on September 26: Nasserist officers overthrew the monarchy, seized power, and King Badr and his accomplices fled. The new government declared Yemen a republic, abolished slavery,[7] and a curfew was imposed. The coup in the north almost coincided (and inspired) with the beginning of the uprising and emergency in the south (in Aden). The first country to recognize the republic was the USSR. Two days after the coup, Abdullah al-Sallal, one of the main organizers of the coup and the first president of the newborn republic, said: "The corrupt monarchy which ruled for a thousand years was a disgrace to the Arab nation and to all humanity. Anyone who tries to restore it is an enemy of God and man!".[8]

Map of North Yemen Civil War in 1967. Black color indicates Republican and Egyptian forces control, red color indicates Royalist forces control.

But Badr not only survived, but was also able to unite a lot of the tribes that supported him in the opposition to Sallal. He received support from other monarchies (such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan), who were afraid of Sallal's revolutionary nasserist regime and feared that the coup would spread to their monarchy too. At the same time, Egypt began to support the Sallal's government, supplying them weapons, military advisers and even sending Egyptian forces to fight against royalists later. As a result - this coup d'état marked the beginning of the North Yemen Civil War that pitted republican troops, assisted by the United Arab Republic (Egypt), against Badr's royalist forces, supported by Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Royalists repel an Egyptian tank attack.

The war was very expensive for Egypt. In 1967, most of the Egyptian troops were withdrawn from North Yemen to join the conflict of the Six-day War. In November 1967, the royalists laid siege to the capital Sana'a, but the Republican resistance was not suppressed and, in February 1968, the siege was lifted. Despite the fact that territorially, most of Yemen remained under the control of al-Badr, most of the big cities remained in the hands of the Republicans and their Egyptian allies. In 1970 Saudi Arabia, the main ally of king Badr, which was a fundamental enemy of the republican regime, suddenly recognized the Yemen Arab Republic, and other countries, such as the United Kingdom, quickly followed its example. For Badr, this was a complete surprise and humiliation, because no one consulted with him, and in fact, at this moment, after 8 years, the Republicans de-facto won a cruel war, which officially ended in December 1, and received recognition of their republic. The civil war further weakened the economy of the newborn republic.

Republic after war, 1970s

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Although the war was over, its consequences remained. The country's already small infrastructure was badly damaged by fighting, bombing and shelling, the weak economy collapsed, and people became even poorer. The first decade after the war was marked by political instability (as a several coups of dissident officers).

Rebuilding North Yemen’s infrastructure after the civil war proved extremely problematic. Apart from the devastated economy, there were other problems: the military took up to 50 percent of the national budget, amounting to only about £9 million in total, which was hopelessly inadequate in the circumstances. The army was the main social lift, but it (like the government) was riddled with graft and corruption. Controlled by the government, the military's logistics system not only depended on Sana'a's trust in the loyalty of local commanders, but was also susceptible to bribery and corruption. Although various leaders of the Yemen Arab Republic attempted to modernize the state, increase literacy, combat corruption, and rebuild and expand small infrastructure, this did not have the expected impact on the development of the country, which by 1990 remained very underdeveloped, poor, and mired in corruption, largely due to political instability and widespread nepotism.

The first president of the Yemen Arab Republic, Abdullah al-Sallal, was overthrown before the civil war ended, in 1967, and was succeeded by Abdul Rahman al-Eryani, the first and last civilian leader in northern Yemen.[9] He opposed the Yemeni monarchy, but made moves to reconcile with royalists at the end of the civil war. In 1970, he reached a national peace accord with many supporters of the royal regime and established formal relations with Saudi Arabia, persuading it to recognize new republic. Under his rule, a unification agreement with southern Yemen was reached in 1972 (which formed the basis for unification in 1990), a permanent constitution was adopted, and the first parliamentary elections were held. But Eryani was overthrown in 1974 by Military Command Council (MCC) of 7 officers (de-facto Nasserist military junta) and replaced by Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi, leader of MCC.[10] Hamdi tried to actively implement reforms within the republic and fought corruption, creating a number of committees to implement them. He tried to unite the tribal country and eliminate inter-tribal conflicts that were active under the monarchy and during the civil war, reorganized the army, initiated a grand infrastructure plan and sought to educate the population (he allocated 31% of the country's annual budget to education). But in 1977, Hamdi was assassinated, presumably by a Saudi agent (although there is still no exact information).[11] Power was seized by another officer: Ahmad al-Ghashmi (He was also suspected of involvement in Hamdi's assassination[12]). Gashmi was a conservative, unlike his predecessor, and advocated rolling back his Hamdi reforms. Not much is known about Ghashmi's presidency. However, he did not hold on to power for long: 8 months after coming to power, he was also assassinated in June 24, 1978.

Ali Abdullah Saleh's takeover: a new era in Yemeni history

[edit]
Main article: Ali Abdullah Saleh

Following the assassination of al-Ghashmi on 24 June 1978, Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh was appointed a member of the four-member interim presidential council and deputy commander of the General Staff.[13] On 17 July 1978, Saleh was elected by parliament as President of the Yemen Arab Republic, simultaneously serving as Chief of Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,[14] in theory controlling all power in the country. But in reality his power was unstable. Few people inside or outside the North Yemen expected him to survive for long, and most expected him to suffer the same fate as his two predecessors. He is not was a impressive orator: His first speeches were, in the words of one foreign observer, “extremely painful.” And indeed: In 1978-1979, several military coups and assassination attempts followed, and a coalition of North Yemeni opposition groups, the National Democratic Front (NDF), launched a initially successful years-long rebellion against the central government, with support from Libya and South Yemen. But to the surprise of outside observers, Saleh outlived them all. He managed to defeat his opponents, and after 4 years of rebellion, he was able to suppress the NDF forces in 1982 with the support of the United States and Taiwan. He successfully consolidated his personal power, transforming the government of the Yemen Arab Republic from a military junta to an authoritarian military dictatorship. He ultimately reversed the reformist program begun by al-Hamdi,[15] opening the way to the corruption that had kept him in power. Saleh carried out major purges of military commanders to eliminate dissent and prevent further coups, and while these purges had a corresponding impact on the army's performance in the second war with southern Yemen, they allowed Saleh to remain in power.[16] His bodyguards numbered hundreds of men, mostly from his own Sanhan tribe.

Saleh describing as being neither from a "sheikhly family" nor a "large or important tribe" either, but instead rising to power through "his own means", and creating a patronage system with his family at the top.[17] His seven brothers were placed "in key positions", and later he relied on "sons, daughters, sons-in-law and nephews".[17] Beneath the positions occupied by his extended family, Saleh "relied heavily on the loyalty" of two tribes, his own Sanhan tribe and the Hamdan San'a tribe of his mentor, the former president al-Ghashmi.[17] The New York Times Middle Eastern correspondent Robert F. Worth described Saleh as reaching an understanding with powerful feudal "big sheikhs" to become "part of a Mafia-style spoils system that substituted for governance".[18] Robert Worth accused Saleh of exceeding the aggrandisement of other Middle Eastern strongmen by managing to "rake off tens of billions of dollars in public funds for himself and his family" despite the extreme poverty of his country.[19] Saleh managed to reconcile most factions (though he, like the monarchy before him, exploited tribal conflicts and played off those who threatened his power), improved relations with Yemen's neighbors, and relaunched various programs of economic and political development and institutionalization. He led Yemen into the oil age. However, citizens felt little benefit from his development programs, since it was mainly the top ranks of the government and the army (including Saleh himself) who got rich. Saleh's estimated current wealth of $62 billion made him the 5th richest person in the world in the 21st century.[20]

Unlike East and West Germany, North and South Korea or North and South Vietnam, North Yemen and its southern neighbor, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), also known as South Yemen, remained relatively cordial, though relations were often strained. Following the First Yemenite War in 1972, the two nations declared that unification would eventually occur. However, these plans were put on hold due to the 1979 Second Yemenite War, and war was stopped only by an Arab League intervention. The goal of unity was reaffirmed by the northern and southern heads of state during a summit meeting in Kuwait in March 1979.

Unification

[edit]
Main article: Yemeni unification

In May 1988, the North and South Yemeni governments came to an understanding that considerably reduced tensions. They agreed to renew discussions concerning unification, to establish a joint oil exploration area along their undefined border, to demilitarize the border, and to allow Yemenis unrestricted border passage on the basis of a national identification card.

Official Yemeni unification took place on 22 May 1990, with a planned, 30-month process, scheduled for completion in November 1992. The first stamp bearing the inscription "Yemen Republic" was issued in October 1990.[21] While government ministries proceeded to merge, both currencies remained valid until 11 June 1996. A civil war in 1994 delayed the completion of the final merger.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Constitution of the Yemen Arab Republic, 1970". al-bab.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  2. ^ Bühler, Konrad G. (8 February 2001). State Succession and Membership in International Organizations. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9041115536. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b The United States extended diplomatic recognition to the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) on 19 December 1962, The Times, 20 December 1962.
  4. ^ Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2000). Yemen: The Unknown Arabia. New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 97, 108.
  5. ^ Dresch, p. 67.
  6. ^ a b TIME (5 October 1962). "Yemen: After Ahmad the Devil". TIME. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  7. ^ Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 352
  8. ^ "Arabia Felix". Time. 26 October 1962. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  9. ^ "Abdul-Rahman Al-Eryani, Ex-Yemen President, 89". The New York Times. 17 March 1998. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  10. ^ "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  11. ^ Terrill, W. Andrew (2011). The Conflicts in Yemen and U.s. National Security (Report). Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.
  12. ^ Metcalfe, Beverley; Mimouni, Fouad (1 January 2011). Leadership Development in the Middle East. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85793-811-4. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  13. ^ "YEMEN – Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Ahmar". APS Review Downstream Trends. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  14. ^ "President Ali Abdullah Saleh Web Site". Presidentsaleh.gov.ye. Archived from the original on 19 December 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  15. ^ Blumi, Isa. Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World, p. 134.
  16. ^ "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  17. ^ a b c K. Kadhim, Abbas (2013). Governance in the Middle East and North Africa: A Handbook. Routledge. p. 309. ISBN 9781857435849. Archived from the original on 15 February 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  18. ^ Worth, Robert F. (2016). A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS. Pan Macmillan. p. 105. ISBN 9780374710712. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  19. ^ Worth, Robert F. (2016). A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS. Pan Macmillan. p. 98. ISBN 9780374710712. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Yemen ex-leader Saleh 'amassed up to $60bn' - UN probe". BBC News. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  21. ^ Scott (2008) "Yemen", Scott 2009 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Volume 6 (165th edition) Scott Publishing Co., Sidney, Ohio, page 1081. ISBN 978-0-89487-422-2
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15°21′17″N 44°12′24″E / 15.35472°N 44.20667°E / 15.35472; 44.20667

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