South Yemen, formally the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, was a communist state in the southern and eastern regions of present-day Yemen that existed from 30 November 1967 to 22 May 1990, with a brief attempt at independence being crushed in a 1994 civil war. The capital of South Yemen was Aden, and South Yemen was an important bastion of communism in the region, with 40,000 Soviet troops being stationed in South Yemen by 1988 and several naval forces deployed there; Aden was also a city where communist revolutionary groups like the Revolutionary Cells and PFLP had asylum.
History[]
The location of South Yemen
The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was declared on 30 November 1967 as British Army troops began to withdraw from the Yemen following a struggle with the communist National Liberation Front. The NLF formed a communist government in South Yemen that was opposed to the capitalist North Yemen, and although relations were often strained and, at times violent, the two governments managed to have friendly relations. South Yemen's access to the Indian Ocean led to the Soviet Union forging a close alliance with South Yemen in order for its forces to be deployed to the country, using South Yemen as a base for their forces in Asia. South Yemen had a twenty-year Treaty of Freedom and Cooperation with the USSR and an alliance with the Derg of Ethiopia and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and the country allowed for the USSR to station up to four warships in Aden, while it also had a heavily fortified sentry base on Socotra island. The Soviets had extensive fortifications on Perim Island with a Soviet commander in charge, and the USSR sent $2,000,000,000 worth of military equipment to South Yemen in exchange for its ability to use Aden International Airport and Al-Anad Military Airfield as bases for reconnaissance missions against the West. By 23 May 1987, there were 40,000 Soviet troops in South Yemen with a fleet headquarters in Aden, a docking facility for Soviet Navy vessels and Cuban troops. During the South Yemen Civil War of 1986, the Soviets supported the coup against Ali Nasir Muhammad's government by hardliners, which was a bloody victory for the plotters. South Yemen's government was virtually a revolving door from the 1970s into the 1980s, with several leaders stepping in and out of power, usually being overthrown and sometimes killed in coups. In 1990, North Yemen and South Yemen agreed to demilitarize their border, and they achieved reunification as Yemen.