|
|
Moscow's Hard Lesson in South Yemen
| Article
# : |
10035 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1986 |
2,974 Words |
| Author
: |
John Rees
|
Now that hard-line pro-Soviet factions have triumphed in the latest coup in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), it is worth examining how closely the Soviets and their proxies came to completely botching January's coup and the brief but bloody civil war that followed.
Both Soviet-line Marxists now in control of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) and deposed president Ali Nasir Muhammad al-Hassani, the former YSP secretary-general, have given their versions of the developments leading to the fighting which demolished the city of Aden and left an estimated 10,000 dead. Evidence given by each side indicates that the coup plot was supported, encouraged and, some intelligence analysts say, very probably engineered by the Soviet Union. However, few believe that the Soviets did not know enough about the structure of Yemeni society to understand that their actions would result in the violent efforts to depose Ali Nasir Muhammad, and that the coup would lead to a general tribally based bloodletting.
In theory, everything should have proceeded smoothly. The pro-Soviet rebels in the YSP Politburo and Central Committee, frustrated in their attempt last October to take power at the party congress, expected to force a confrontation with Ali Nasir Muhammad on January 13 during an extraordinary meeting of the YSP Central Committee and the cabinet. The pretext for the showdown was to have been a vote of "no confidence" regarding the composition of the new cabinet. Ali Nasir Muhammad had avoided making the appointments while retaining the party leadership, but his rivals forced him to appoint his pro-Soviet arch rival, Abd el-Fattah Ismail, to the Politburo.
To enforce their coup in the YSP Central Committee, former Defense Minister Brigadier General Ali Ahmad Nasir Antar and his allies (Ismail and his supporters including current Defense Minister Salim Muslih Qasim, Ali Abd el-Razzaq Ba Dhib and his brother, Abu Bakr Ba Dhib) deployed a large force of tanks, armored personnel carriers and regular army troops around the capital in advance of the meeting. They used the excuse that an Israeli attack on South Yemen's terrorist training camps was likely. Ali Nasir Muhammad may have been suspicious, but certainly could not oppose "defending the capital."
Alerted to plot
On January 12, the influx of armed groups, unusual troop movements, and the seizure of some documents by the security forces alerted Ali Nasir Muhammad to the plot. In a subsequent interview, he stated that he devised counter measures. As he rallied the governor of Abyan province and his forces to march on the capital, his loyalist militia and internal security forces surrounded the Chamber of Deputies as the Antar/Ismail faction leaders arrived. Ali Nasir Muhammad now insists that the fighting erupted when the insurgent leaders resisted arrest. The leaders who survived the "lake of ice" charged that the PDRY president's guards opened fire with automatic weapons on the opposition faction leaders as they gathered in the National Assembly.
In any event, it is now clear that General Antar, Abd el-Fattah Ismail, Defense Minister Salih Muslih Qasm (a member of General Antar's tribe), Deputy Prime Minister Ali Salim al-Baydh, Politburo member Ali Shai Hadi, and a significant number of leaders of their faction either were killed outright or were mortally wounded
...
Read Full Article
|
|
