Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0270/02702.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 21KB | 355 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02702}
$Pretitle{383A}
$Title{Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen)
Chapter 4A.   National Security}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Laurie Krieger}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{north
army
military
yemen
forces
salih
air
south
yemeni
soviet}
$Date{1985}
$Log{Figure 9.*0270201.scf
Table C.*0270201.tab
}
Country:     Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen)
Book:        The Yemens, An Area Study: North Yemen
Author:      Laurie Krieger
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1985

Chapter 4A.   National Security

     North Yemen occupies a strategic location at the southwestern tip of the
Arabian Peninsula between conservative, monarchical Saudi Arabia and
pro-Soviet South Yemen. The central government in North Yemen has always been
relatively weak and has had to contend with strong internal opposition and
tribal unrest. Because of its strategic location, North Yemen has been
important to both superpowers and at times has become involved in superpower
rivalry. This makes the North Yemeni armed forces a crucial factor in the
stability of the country.

     In 1962 the religiously based monarchical system was overthrown in a coup
led by Colonel Abdallah al Sallal. To sustain the shaky coup, Sallal called on
his hero, President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt, to send aid to the new
republican regime, which was about to collapse. Between 1962 and 1967 Egypt
was deeply involved in the civil war, which resulted in an estimated 200,000
casualties and provided harsh testing and training of manpower on the both
sides. According to President Anwar al Sadat of Egypt, at one time during the
war there were about 30,000 men under arms on each side, and "the republican
forces were assisted by up to 70,000 Egyptian troops." This prolonged struggle
resulted in considerable practical military training for a large number of men
of military age, usually considered to be 18 to 45 but greatly exceeded at
both ends of the spectrum.

     The second period of the military developments in North Yemen began with
the coup of June 13, 1974. The leader of the junta was Hamdi, who was backed
by the commanding officers of the major units stationed in the capital. Hamdi
exercised power as chairman of the Military Command Council (MCC), which
included the chief of staff, Colonel Ghashmi, a leading member of the Hashid
tribe, and a left-leaning Shafii officer, Major Abdallah Abd al Alim, who
commanded the Parachute Brigade. After two years in power Hamdi concluded that
his goal of modernizing and strengthening the armed forces could not be
achieved as long as much of the country continued to be dominated by
conservative tribal shaykhs supported by their armed followers. In an effort
to curb the tribes, he abolished the use of titles and banned the carrying of
weapons in towns.

     Relations between Hamdi and the tribal leaders (particularly the Hashib
confederation) continued to deteriorate in the summer of 1977, and Hamdi
ordered the air force to bomb several tribal strongholds. In the autumn there
were reports of a reconciliation, but before this could be effected, Hamdi was
murdered. Within hours the MCC, now consisting of Ghashmi, Abd al Alim, and
Abd al Ghani, announced that Ghashmi would be its new chairman.

     Ghashmi had little opportunity to bring about any changes. On June 24,
1978, he was assassinated by a bomb carried by a "special emissary" of the
South Yemeni government, and on July 17 Salih was named president of the
republic. Attempts to overthrow Salih were reported in July and October 1978,
and a prolonged delay in reaching agreement on constitutional issues was
attributed to continuing unrest and conflict within the army as well as
between the republicans and traditionalist groups.

     Attempted coups against Salih seemed to suggest that his base of support
within the army was weak. A coup attempt in October 1978 involved four army
units in Sanaa, but the rebels failed to obtain the support of other army
officers. Following this the Salih regime undertook the bloodiest purge since
the civil war. Nine army officers, the minister of labor and social affairs,
and numerous other collaborators were arrested. Something approaching 100
individuals were executed during the next two months, and thousands were
imprisoned.

     These purges weakened Salih's political support, and the South Yemeni
president, Abd al Fatah Ismail, seems to have calculated that the NDF-thought
to number a central core of around 700, reinforced by disgruntled politicians
and soldiers from Sanaa and by South Yemeni irregulars to a total number of
5,000-could overthrow Salih or at least seize control of North Yemen's
southern provinces. Although the initial attack by the NDF faltered, South
Yemen provided air cover to counter the North Yemeni air force, and the
former's artillery gave the NDF enough assistance to move some 40 kilometers
across the border and to seize the towns of Qatabah, Al Bayda, and Harib (see
fig. 6).

     The result was the February 1979 border war that received regional as
well as international attention. Up to 7,000 deaths were reported, but the
actual figure was probably much lower, and most casualties seem to have been
civilians or tribal irregulars. Ismail quickly learned that he had
over-estimated the strength of the NDF forces; although the support of South
Yemen's forces allowed the rebels to occupy territory near North Yemen's
border, they lacked significant popular support. Salih was able to mobilize
tribal levies to assist his regular forces, and the combined forces defeated
the NDF insurgency, leading to a cease-fire on March 4, 1979.

     Salih used this South Yemeni invasion to convince Saudi Arabia and the
United States that he faced a major direct threat from Soviet-backed South
Yemen. As a result, the United States agreed to speed the military aid to
North Yemen that it had first promised in 1976. The new arms package provided
a limited number of major weapons: 12 F-5E and four F-5F fighters, 64 M-60
tanks, 100 M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs), and a small number of
artillery weapons, representing a total of US$400 million worth of arms.
Although the deal also included Vulcan antiaircraft guns and modern antitank
guided missiles (ATGMs), it fell short of giving North Yemen's armed forces
independence. Salih and key army officers concluded that North Yemen was being
made permanently dependent on Saudi Arabia.

     As a result, Salih took advantage of the terms of the peace agreement
with South Yemen to tilt back to the Soviets. In November 1979 he concluded a
military and economic aid package with the Soviets without consulting either
the United States or Saudi Arabia. The pact provided for some US$700 million
dollars worth of Soviet arms only months after Saudi Arabia had agreed to fund
US$400 million of American-made weapons to counter Soviet influence.

     The Soviet package included MI-8 attack helicopters, some 70 fighter
aircraft-including at least 36 late-model MiG-21s and 24 Sukhoi attack
fighters-and enough T-54 and T-55 tanks to raise North Yemen's active strength
to over 700 tanks. Despite Saudi opposition, Salih continued to seek arms from
the Soviets and at the same time engaged in seemingly fruitless unification
talks with the South Yemenis (see Relations with South Yemen, this ch.). In an
interview Salih said that the Soviet arms "are not for the purpose of
committing aggression or imposing our will on others nor for one-up-manship or
to take advantage of international conflict. We can achieve security by having
good relations and obtaining the arms we need by available means and according
to our financial capabilities."

     During early 1981 Salih procrastinated on the unification talks with
South Yemen. This led the South Yemenis to stir up the NDF insurgency again.
The NDF forces began to raid military bases in the southern cities of Ibb,
Dhamar, and Harib. Salih responded by appealing to Moscow. He flew there and
held talks with President Leonid