Yemen, Republic of

Yemen, Republic of A country in the south of the peninsula of Arabia, bordering on Saudi Arabia and Oman on the north.

Physical

Behind the western, Red Sea, coast are high mountains. The lower-lying eastern part has a coast on the Gulf of Aden. Mostly hot desert, these are areas where cotton can be grown.

Economy

In the north, agriculture, mainly sheep- and goat-raising, cotton, coffee, the narcotic qat, and other food crops, was the mainstay of the economy until oil production began in 1986. However, further oil exploration is jeopardized by a border dispute with Saudi Arabia. In the south, which was formerly a one-party communist republic with a centrally planned economy heavily dependent on Soviet aid, agriculture is the principal economic activity. Production of the chief crops (cotton, millet, and wheat) is limited by lack of arable land and irrigation. Other than the oil refinery in the south, industry is limited to food-processing. Yemen is heavily dependent on the remittances of migrant workers, and the economy was severely affected by Saudi Arabia's repatriation of a large number of Yemeni workers following Yemen's neutral stance in the 1991 Gulf War.

History

From c.950 to 115 BC Yemen was a flourishing region called Saba - the site of the kingdom of the biblical queen of Sheba. Because of its summer rains it was known to Rome as Arabia Felix (‘Happy Arabia’), but it declined with its irrigation system around the 6th century AD. It was converted to ISLAM in the 7th century and came under the rule of the Muslim caliphate. Much of it was under the rule of the Ottomans (1517–1918), although the British established the colony of Aden in 1839. In 1918, with British support, the territory (excluding Aden) was proclaimed a kingdom under Imam Yahya, its borders with both Aden and Saudi Arabia for long being matters of dispute. Yahya was assassinated in 1948, and his son Ahmad ruled until 1962. On his death the army under General Abdullah al-Sallal proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen), backed by both Egypt and Syria. Saudi Arabia supported those tribes who gave their loyalty to Ahmad's son Imam Muhammad al-Badr. Civil war lasted until 1967, when Nasser withdrew Egyptian troops, after the defeat of the Six-Day War. Sallal resigned and a more moderate government was formed. In April 1970 there was a general pacification, but in 1979 a month-long war broke out with the neighbouring People's Republic of Yemen (South Yemen, formed from Aden and neighbouring emirates when British rule ended in 1967). Intermittent talks to unify North Yemen and South Yemen followed, with a draft constitution agreed in December 1989. The unified state was proclaimed in May 1990, its political capital being Sana'a and commercial capital Aden. A five-member Council was headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The new republic was welcomed to the UN and found itself a member of the Security Council at the time of the Gulf Crisis, when its decision to oppose the US-dominated intervention, leading to the GULF WAR, had strong popular support. Yet it resulted in economic reprisals by the Gulf States, by Europe, and by the USA, while some 800,000 migrant workers were expelled from Saudi Arabia. The latter also gave ‘substantial financial support’ to anti-government Islamic fundamentalists, who had a strong following among the conservative tribes of the interior. Political tensions, focusing on the distribution of oil revenues, culminated in the southern Yemeni leaders declaring secession, which prompted a three-month civil war in 1994. The war ended when forces from northern Yemen captured Aden. A peace settlement was made and the constitution was amended, the ruling Council being replaced by a directly elected President.

Capital:	San'a (political) Aden (economic)
Area:	472,099 sq km (182,336 sq miles)
Population:	16,388,000 (1998 est)
Currency:	1 Yemeni dinar = 1000 fils; 1 Yemeni rial = 100 fils
Religions:	Sunni Muslim 53.0%; Shiite Muslim (mainly in north) 46.9%
Ethnic Groups:	Arab 97.0%; Indian and Pakistani 1.5%; Somali 1.5%
Languages:	Arabic (official)
International Organizations:	UN; Arab league