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- WORLD, Page 65World NotesYEMENSheba's Land Together Again
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- Two small countries on the southern tip of the Arabian
- Peninsula, strategically placed at the mouth of the Red Sea,
- were reunited last week after more than 400 years. Once the
- Queen of Sheba's realm, Yemen has been divided since the 16th
- century, when first the Ottoman Turks and later the British
- colonized the southern territory around the port of Aden.
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- Independent since 1967, the People's Democratic Republic of
- Yemen has spent the past 20 years in the Soviet orbit. The
- withdrawal of Soviet aid, plus the collapse of communism in
- Eastern Europe, led South Yemen to accept an offer to unite
- with the Yemen Arab Republic, its northern neighbor.
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- With a population of nearly 12 million, the new Republic of
- Yemen could become a regional power. Its assets include oil
- reserves estimated at up to 4 billion bbl. and a new commercial
- capital at Aden. The once busy port has lost Western business
- since it fell into pro-Soviet hands, but refueling at Aden
- could come back into favor: it would save ships 2 1/2 days of
- sailing.
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