Yemen, Republic of

Yemen, Republic of A country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula which emerged from the unification of North Yemen (to the west) and South Yemen (to the east) in 1990. Unity remained fragile, as it followed decades of strife between the two countries, and was ill-prepared. Insufficient efforts were made to integrate two societies that had developed quite differently, with one still largely based on Islamic traditionalist lines (North Yemen), while Communist egalitarian structures had been imposed on the other (South Yemen). The President of the more populous North, Ali Abdullah Salleh (since 1978), became President of the new country, with the former President of South Yemen (since 1986), Bakr al-Attas, becoming Prime Minister. The latter's Socialist Party came third in the 1993 elections. Feeling himself more and more sidelined, he declared South Yemen independent once again on 21 May 1994. Aden was quickly occupied by North Yemenite troops (7 July 1994), so that unity was re-established. A new constitution was passed on 28 September 1994, which established Islamic law, the shariah, as the country's legal basis. Salleh was formally elected to a five-year term as President. While the South had thus become totally dominated by the North, traditional border disputes with Saudi Arabia over Yemen's northern border continued, particularly after the discovery of significant oil reserves in the area. The border disputes were formally resolved in 1999, with the creation of a 40-km demilitarized zone between both states. In 2001 Yemeni voters approved a new constitution in a referendum, which allowed Saleh to continue in office as President. Although the political dominance of the North continued through the parliamentary strength of the General People's Congress, a growing challenge was presented by Islamic fundamentalist groups, some of which had connections to Osama Bin Laden. In 2000 two terrorist suicide bombers sponsored by Bin Laden attacked an American warship anchoring in Aden, USS Cole, killing seventeen soldiers.