Modern Yemen is a country in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, which has a rich cultural heritage and interesting history, as well as a very hospitable and good-natured population. But usually only the most provocative stories fall on the front pages of Western media. Few have heard anything about Yemen, except that it is the poorest country in the Arab world, al-Qaeda base on the Arabian Peninsula and the birthplace of Osama bin Laden.
Yemen is one of the first civilizations in the world whose history dates back to the first millennium BC. There are four ancient cities on the territory of the country: Sana'a with its unique architecture, Shibam, known as the “Manhattan of the Desert”, Socotra, distinguished by a wealth of biological species, and Zabid, which is an important historical and archaeological site. Socotra Island from 1967 to 1990 is located in South Yemen. In those years, it was a separate state, which later merged with the Arab Republic.
Where is South Yemen located?
The geographical area in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, washed by the waters of the seas of the Indian Ocean, at different times was part of various administrative and territorial entities. Today, this area is part of the state of Yemen. If the name is used as the name of an independent state formation, we are talking about South Yemen, freed from British colonial rule in 1967. Prior to this, the area has been a British dependent territory since 1839.
Administrative division
Southern Yemen is divided into six provinces, or governorates: Hadramaut, Abyan, Aden, Lahj, Mahra, Shabwa. The capital was the city of Aden, located on the shores of the Gulf of Aden. The former capital of South Yemen today is of great economic importance. This is a transit port, the location of an international airport, military airfield, and a developed oil refining center. The city has ship repair, textile and fish processing enterprises. Aden is located on one of the busiest measure sea routes and is a transit point between the routes of the Red and Mediterranean Seas, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
Government structure
The legislative body of South Yemen was the Supreme People’s Council, elected for five years. The head of state is the collective Presidium, which was formed for a period of five years. The executive body was the Council of Ministers. There were local representative bodies (councils, executive bureaus). The judicial system was represented by the Supreme Supreme Court, provincial and district courts. The only political party was the Yemeni Socialist. This is a left-wing opposition party.
In different years of the republic’s existence (NDRY), Kakhtan Muhammad al-Shaabi, Abdel Fattah Ismail, Haydar Abu Bakr al-Attas, Ali Nasser Muhammad, Ali Salem al-Beyd, Salem Roubeya Ali were at the head of the state. Kakhtan Muhammad al-Shaabi became the first president of South Yemen, he also headed the Liberation Front, and proclaimed the "faith in Arab socialist unity" of the United Arab Republic (Egypt) and Yemen, did not recognize the Federation of South Arabia under the protectorate of Great Britain.
History reference
Even during the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain was interested in the historical region in the south of the Arabian Peninsula - Hadramaut. The British occupied Ceylon, the port of Aden and South Africa to counter the spread of French influence. The British colony was seen as an important stronghold on the way to India. Aden was also interested in the colonialists as a coal base for ships heading to the Indian Ocean. The city was taken in 1839. The local population resisted, but failed to stop the British.
Aden regained its once-lost prosperity with the opening of the Suez Canal. But this improvement in the economic situation in the capital did not have any effect on areas that were even at a slight distance from the city. The British simply created a bout zone that would protect an important maritime knot. The colonialists were not bothered by the ongoing feuds and conflicts until they affected British interests. Quite the contrary, Great Britain established contractual relations with some provinces of South Yemen in exchange for money and weapons.
Anti-British movement
In 1958-1959, under the British protectorate, the Federation of South Arabia existed in this territory, at the same time it began to intensify the anti-British movement. This policy was pursued by Gamal Abdel Nasser, an Egyptian statesman who invited Yemen to join the union of Arab countries, which would jeopardize the existence of a protectorate in Aden. In response, the British authorities decided to unite part of the principalities under the English crown.
National front
In 1963, the National Liberation Front of the Arabian South was formed, which proclaimed the need for an armed struggle against the colonial regime and the creation of a united Yemen. So, North and South Yemen did not have significant contradictions among themselves, but fought against Great Britain. The liberation struggle begins on October 14, 1963. Then there was a clash of a detachment of the movement of South Yemen with the British.
The British underestimated the National Front. A three-week campaign was originally planned, but it lasted for six months. Two thousand troops were pulled in instead of the original thousandth contingent. The British were faced with a new type of enemy who did not seek to conquer and retain territory, but to destroy as many enemy units as possible. The colonialists did not expect the partisan movement to become a well-planned military resistance.
Victory of resistance
Almost the entire Republic of South Yemen by 1967 was in the hands of the National Front. This was facilitated by the temporary closure of the Suez Canal. The British essentially lost their last chance to defend their colony. Amid uncontrolled violence against the British military, the withdrawal of troops began.
In Aden, the colonialists made a final attempt to save the situation using an acute crisis between the National Front and other internal forces. It is not known what bloody clashes between independence supporters would have resulted, but the National Front received the support of the army and the police, so it won. After that, the NF became a real political and military force throughout South Yemen.
The British authorities were forced to start negotiations with the leaders of the NF, as with the leaders of an organization that could legitimately take power in the country after independence. The last English soldier left South Yemen on November 29, 1967. The next day, the creation of a republic was proclaimed.
New ideology
In 1972, it was decided to adopt a development program according to the model of the USSR. Prior to this, the rebels (army and police officers) demanded "rid the country of the communist danger", and indeed, the existence of a young state in any form was constantly threatened. This was facilitated by the regimes of Oman and Saudi Arabia, the United States and Great Britain, which believed that their interests were at risk, the activities of the right wing of North Yemen and similar factors.
The new ideology was inculcated with difficulty. The population was illiterate, so there was no sense in left-wing revolutionary newspapers, and the main source of information was radio. The lack of funds affected the cinema and national television, causing great harm to agricultural production. At the same time, the country continued to actively reform according to the socialist model.
By 1973, the number of schools in South Yemen had doubled (compared to 1968), much attention was paid to socialist education, energy was developing rapidly, the factor of shortage of drinking water was practically overcome by the eighties, the creation of an Aden water supply system was completed, and the volume increased agricultural production, increased share of the public sector and so on. But at the same time, external debt also grew.
Yemen Economy
South Yemen chose a socialist development model: banks, trading and strass companies, oil product marketing agencies, and ship servicing firms were nationalized (all of these enterprises were mainly owned by foreign capital). A monopoly was announced on the purchase of tea, cigarettes, cars, wheat, flour, medicines for government agencies, butter, and so on, and an agrarian reform was carried out.
Colonialism left the new authorities a very weak economy. The country was one of the poorest in the Arab world. Agriculture provided less than 10% of GNP per capita, industry - less than 5%. The budget deficit in 1968-1969 was $ 3.8 million. The Republic also faced other difficulties: unemployment, the cessation of transit shipping due to the closure of the Suez Canal, social fragmentation, poverty, crime, and an extremely low standard of living.
In 1979, an agreement was concluded that defined the areas of cooperation between South Yemen and the USSR. The PRC helped the young state in building roads, training the army, Hungary and Bulgaria - in developing agriculture, tourism, Czechoslovakia and the GDR - in building, geology, developing communications and transport, modernizing the army and training personnel. With the assistance of the USSR, a cement plant, a fishing port, a government building, university buildings, a center for maternal and child health, a hospital with 300 beds, and a power plant were built.
The economy was recovering. The results of the help of the states of the socialist camp and internal transformations were:
- an increase in total agricultural production by almost 66% in four years;
- relatively high employment (increased by 11%);
- overcoming the problem of shortage of drinking water and creating a water supply system of the capital;
- active development of the energy complex;
- construction of new facilities for almost 320 million dinars (coin of South Yemen and some other Arab-speaking countries);
- growth in retail turnover from 199.5 to 410.8 million dinars;
- an increase in the share of the public sector in the economy up to 63% from the initial 27%;
- an increase in imports from capitalist countries (from 38% to 41%) and so on.
But external debt was constantly growing, which by 1981 reached $ 1.5 billion. Other problems were the unpreparedness of the peasants for collective labor (the same was true for fishing cooperatives), the consequences of the earthquake of 1982, and the drought of the early eighties. And with the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, aid from abroad ceased. In response to this, the government began to carry out the first independent reforms. For example, in 1984, the development of small private businesses was allowed.
Population and culture
In Aden, the flag of South Yemen has fluttered for more than twenty years, but this has not affected the region’s centuries-old culture. The area is closely connected with the rest of the Arabian Peninsula by history and traditions. Interesting features of the southern part of Yemen that attract tourists are the ancient “clay skyscrapers” located in Hadramaut, and the “fabulous” appearance of local women.
South Yemen girls dress like witches. On their heads you can see huge (up to 50 cm in height) straw hats that allow you to work long in the field or graze goats under the scorching sun when the temperature reaches fifty degrees. The face is covered with a mask, the lower and upper parts of which are connected by a thin thread, which gives a very peculiar look to the eyes let down by antimony.
They are representatives of only one tribe, but there are many of them in Yemen. In the past, tribal division was an important factor in dividing the country into two parts. Today, 27 million people live in united Yemen. A significant part of the population is Sunnis, and Husites-Zeidites account for about 25%.
