SUMMARY
The NDF (National Democratic Front) was a leftist armed umbrella organization formed from the unification of five leftwing groups in Sanaa, North Yemen on 2 February 1976. Through political and armed methods, its aim was to overthrow the Government of North Yemen. During their few years of activity, there were multiple failed attempts to settle the dispute prior to a lasting ceasefire agreement being settled between the government and the NDF in May 1982. Both parties agreed to relinquish the pursuit of politics through armed violence and NDF fighters were granted amnesty. Following this, many NDF leaders went on to participate in the national political dialogue (for more information, see Government of Yemen (North Yemen) – NDF).
Ideologically and organizationally, the NDF was much closer to the leftwing Government of South Yemen rather than the North Yemeni regime. The original goal of the NDF was to peacefully persuade the sitting North Yemeni President Ibrahim al-Hamdi to allow the left back into politics. In addition, the group wanted North Yemen and South Yemen to unite into a single Yemen; a process that had been agreed upon by both countries in 1972 but had seen little progress by the time NDF formed in 1976. Under President al-Hamdi, although the North Yemeni regime had not legalized the NDF, it had also refrained from using violent measures to repress the group. Therefore, when President al-Hamdi was assassinated in 1977, the NDF joined the supporters of murdered president and declared its new goal to overthrow the North Yemen government regime led by his successor Ali Abdallah Salih. In replacement, the NDF sought to establish a democratic political system, gain sovereignty for North Yemen and the conducive conditions for North and South Yemeni unification. This was testified through a six-point plan announced in March 1979.
The individual group members of the NDF changed over time but the five founding members were the Revolutionary Democratic Party, the Organisation of Yemeni Resisters, the Labor Party, the Popular Democratic Union, the Vanguard pro-Syrian and pro-Iraqi wings of the Baath Party. The leader of NDF was Sultan Ahmad Umar, who had been the secretary-general of the Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Democratic Party prior to the formation of the NDF. The pro-Iraqi Baath Party wing left the NDF in 1978, and in the following years, membership of the umbrella movement shifted as a number of groups joined while others also left.
NDF headquarters was located in Aden, the capital of South Yemen and most of its operations into North Yemen were launched from bases in South Yemen. Most clashes occurred south of Sanaa, near the border area. The NDF had 500 troops in 1980 but when it disbanded in 1982, the group reported their withdrawal of approximately 2000 fighters to the south.
The Government of South Yemen provided substantial support to the NDF; although there is little detailed information on the type and extent of this support, it was clear that the government permitted NDF sanctuary within its territory. After an agreement between the governments of North Yemen and South Yemen in in March 1982, South Yemeni support reduced although the NDF retained access to South Yemeni territory.
