This dyad belongs to the conflict South Yemen: Government
Summary of conflict South Yemen: Government
In 1986, President Mohammad, fearing a coup from opponents within the ruling party decided to launch a pre-emptive attack. The attack failed, and in the following week heavy fighting between government troops and the opposition took place in Aden. The fighting eventually declined and President Mohammad was replaced by an opposition leader.
The January 1986 crisis
During 1985, tensions mounted in South Yemen (formally known as the People’s Republic of Yemen). One of the causes of the increasing tensions was the return, from exile in the Soviet Union, of former President Abdul Fattah Ismail. As Ismail returned from the Soviet Union, he was reinstated in the leadership of YSP (Yemen Socialist Party). YSP had been ruling since the 1970s, and most of its leadership were considered opponents of incumbent President Mohammad. As a consequence both parties mobilised their followers in the military ranks. It is unclear what the opposition was planning, however, in January the President decided to take matters into his own hands.
On the morning of 13 January official radio broadcasted a message stating that four leading members of the opposition had attempted to assassinate President Mohammed. The opposition leaders, it was claimed, had been captured, tried and convicted of attempt to overthrow the government. However, this was a cover up for a pre-emptive strike by President Mohammad, which eventually turned out to be counterproductive.
It has later become clear that, on 13 January 1986, the presidential bodyguards entered the political bureau where six of the President’s main rivals were to attend a session and, indiscriminately, opened fire. Three opposition leaders were killed on the spot, however, the other three were able to escape. Followers of President Mohammed had also started to make arrests in the capital and around the country. With the news of the unrest spreading, police and troops loyal to President Mohammed clashed with YSP militiamen. In the beginning the clashes were mostly confined to one district, Tawahi, but as both sides used artillery and tanks the damage was immense.
Though a large part of the armed forces stayed outside the conflict, most of those engaged were initially supporting President Muhammed. When reports of mass killings of the opposition, including army officers, started pouring in allegiances shifted and the YSP supporters, now backed by the armed forces, were able to defeat the loyalists. Heavy fighting carried on in the capital for a few more days, until 19 January. On 19 January, a radio broadcast in Aden announced that a “collective leadership” had been established by the rival faction under, among others, Salim Salih Muhammad. The ousted President Mohammad had reportedly arrived in Ethiopia on the previous day.
Throughout the conflict the neighbouring Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) remained on the sidelines. However, the northern neighbour did decline the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi’s request to use Yemen Arab Republic territory to launch an intervention. The Yemen Arab Republic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, declared that a group of PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) fighters with a medical team from the Palestinian Red Crescent were to monitor the situation. The group was however sent back from the frontline already the next day, 20 January. The Soviet Union also played a part in the settlement of the conflict as it attempted to mediate between the parties. In late January it was confirmed by a representative of the U.S. state department that the U.S. and Soviet had decided that there was to be no outside intervention in the conflict.
While the level of violence decreased significantly after 19 January there were reports of meetings between the parties throughout the year, something that the new government denied. Towards the end of 1986 there were also a number of arrests made of Mohammed supporters suspected of preparing terrorist attacks on economically important sites.
