Yemeni Unification: The End of Marxism in Arabia

Abstract

When the leaders of North and South Yemen met on 16–18 April 1988 and agreed to revive unity discussions, following this up with a 4 May summit in Sanaa, observers could be forgiven a certain scepticism. Over the years, a range of previous declarations had gone essentially unheeded, and the gap between the North’s relative traditionalism and free-market orientation, on the one hand, and the only officially Marxist system in the Arab world, on the other, was perceived by sceptics as too great. Yet on 30 November 1989, on the occasion of the celebration of Independence Day in Aden, South Yemen’s Ali Salim al-Baidh joined with the North’s Ali Abdullah Salih in signing an agreement for the unification of the two states. The draft joint constitution for the union was approved and published, and both legislatures were given six months to ratify it; subsequently the constitution was to be submitted to a referendum, within a year of the signing of the accord. According to the draft constitution, the new state — to be called the Yemen Republic — was to have its capital in Sanaa and have a five-man presidential council. It would be a multi-party state, with a parliament elected every four years. Political groupings and trade unions would be allowed to organize. As to further specifics, a committee studying the issue of a unified political organization was established.