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Ali Salem al Beidh

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Ali Salem al Beidh
علي سالم البيض
Al Beidh in 1990
Vice President of Yemen
In office
22 May 1990 – 6 May 1994
PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh(Chairman of the Presidential Council)
Prime MinisterHaidar Abu Bakr al-Attas
Muhammad Said al-Attar
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byAbdrabbuh Mansur Hadi(Vice President)
General Secretaryof theYemeni Socialist Party
In office
24 January 1986 – 9 June 1994[1]
Preceded byAli Nasir Muhammad
Succeeded byAli Saleh Obad (Moqbel)
Personal details
Born(1939-02-10)10 February 1939(age 85)
Ar Raydah Wa Qusayar,Aden Protectorate
(present-dayYemen)
Political partyYemeni Socialist Party

Ali Salem al-Beidh(Arabic:علي سالم البيض,romanized:‘Alī Sālim al-Bīḍ;born 10 February 1939) is aYemenipolitician who served as the General Secretary of theYemeni Socialist Party(YSP) inSouth Yemenand asVice President of Yemenfollowing theunificationin 1990.[2]He left the unification government in 1993, sparking the1994 civil war in Yemenand then went into exile in Oman. He is a leader of the Southern independence movement known asAl Hirak.

Leadership in South Yemen

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He studied for a Commerce degree and became a School Teacher inMukallain 1961. He joined theNational Liberation Frontin 1963 as the Local Committee founder in Mukalla, and went underground in 1965. In 1966 he was admitted into theHadramawtProvincial Committee of theNLF.After independence he joined theYSP.In 1971 he was selected as the General Secretary of the Hadhramawt Provincial Committee and was admitted into the YSP National Central Committee as a Candidate-Member. Selected as Full Member of the Central Committee in 1975, well as Deputy Minister for School Education and Vocational Training. In 1977, he was admitted as Candidate Member for the YSP Politburo, and a full Politburo member in 1981. Ali took the top position in the YSP following a12-day 1986 civil warbetween forces loyal to former chairmanAbdul Fattah Ismailand then-chairmanAli Nasir Muhammad.An Ismail ally, he took control after Muhammad's defeat and defection and Ismail's disappearance.[3][4]In a coup that took the lives of anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 people, Ali was one of the few high-ranking officials who survived.[5]

Suffering a loss of more than half its aid from the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1989[6]and an interest in possible oil reserves on the border between the countries, Ali's government worked toward unification with North Yemen officials.[7][8]

Unification and Civil War

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Following the unification ofSouth Yemenwith theYemen Arab Republicin 1990, he took up the position of vice-president in the transition government of unified Yemen. But in 1993, Ali quit the government and returned to the former Southern capital ofAden,claiming that the new government was systematically marginalizing the southern people ignoring the needs of the south. On 21 May 1994, as the South's military position weakened, Ali declared theDemocratic Republic of Yemen.He served as the only President of the DRY, from 21 May to 7 July 1994. Ali fled to the neighboringSultanate of Omanafter the secession failed.

South Yemen movement

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After fifteen years of living inexileAli Salim al-Beidh resumed his political career on the eve of the 19th anniversary of theYemeni unification.This came amid highly escalating tensions in the south, with clashes and violence between protesters and Yemeni security forces. In a televised speech fromKitzbühel,Austria,the former President called for a return of South Yemen.[9][10]Since then he has called for several demonstrations to demonstrate the strength of the movement.[11]These have continued into 2011.[12]As a result of his increased involvement, he lost his right to stay in Oman after violating the conditions of his citizenship.[13]Following the2011 Yemeni uprising,he renewed calls for reinstating South Yemen as a separate country.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Memory of Time".Al Moqatel.Retrieved14 September2023.
  2. ^"Yemeni governments of the 1990s".al-bab.Archived fromthe originalon 28 February 2012.
  3. ^Busky, Donald,Communism in history and theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas,Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, page 74
  4. ^Rouhollah K. Ramazani and Joseph A. Kechichian,The Gulf Cooperation Council: record and analysis,University of Virginia Press, 1988, page 125
  5. ^Halliday, Fred,Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987,Cambridge University Press, 2002, page 42
  6. ^Hurd, Robert and Noakes, Greg,North and South Yemen Lead Up to the Break Up,Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,July/August 1994, Page 48
  7. ^Jonsson, Gabriel,Towards Korean reconciliation: socio-cultural exchanges and cooperation,Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006, pages 38-40
  8. ^Coswell, Alan,2 Yemens Let Animosity Fizzle into Coziness,New York Times,20 October 1989
  9. ^صبرنيوز - SBR NEWS."President Ali Salem al-Baid in a dialogue with Al GULF NEWS".Retrieved22 March2015.
  10. ^"Full Translated Speech of Ali Salem Al-Beidh".1 June 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 12 July 2012.
  11. ^Rally in Aden
  12. ^"Civil Disobedience Paralyzes Life in Some Southern Cities - Yemen Post English Newspaper Online".Retrieved22 March2015.
  13. ^"Oman Strips Yemeni Dissident of Citizenship for Returning to Politics".25 May 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 23 July 2011.
  14. ^"Ali Salim al-Beidh calls for secession".UPI.19 May 2012.Archivedfrom the original on 21 May 2012.Retrieved22 March2015.
Political offices
Preceded by
Office created
Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council of Yemen
1990–1994
Succeeded byasVice President of Yemen