Page 475 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

472 Arabia, the Gulf and the West

headquarters for the Red Sea region. Aden itself furnished the Russians with
naval facilities. A second naval station and air base had been established at
Mukalla, in the Hadramaut, while on Socotra Island the Russians had installed

communications and surveillance equipment. Whatever the Kremlin might
privately think of the Marxist-Leninist pretensions of the National Front, it

had now identified itself with the regime and with its fortunes. In any case, the
ideological veneer on Soviet policy in this corner of the world, never very
substantial at any time, had by now almost completely worn away. It mattered
not in the least to the Kremlin that South Yemen was a pariah state, with an

unsavoury reputation as a haven and training ground for the terrorist riff-raff
of the world. On the contrary, her involvement in international terrorism only
increased her attraction in Soviet eyes. Opportunism of the most flagrant kind

was the governing factor in Soviet policy towards South Yemen, as it was
towards her neighbours, Somalia and Ethiopia. Just how subject South Yemen
had become to Soviet direction was amply demonstrated during 1977 and 1978

by the use of Aden as a logistics centre for the Ogaden and Eritrean campaigns,
and by the employment of South Yemeni troops as Soviet auxiliaries in the
latter conflict. It was displayed even more, however, by the Soviet intervention

in the crisis which erupted in the leadership of the Aden politburo in the
middle of 1978.
How the crisis came about and the course it took are still unclear, and
doubtless will remain so for some time yet. Supreme power in South Yemen up
to June 1978 had been wielded by a presidential council of three men - Salim

Rubayyi Ali, the president, Ali Nasir Muhammad, the prime minister and
Abdul Fattah Ismail, the chairman of the central committee of the National
Front. The personal and political rivalry which had long existed between Salim

Rubayyi Ah and Abdul Fattah Ismail attained violent proportions in late June
1978, when the presidential palace in Aden was assaulted by South Yemeni
army units and militia detachments loyal to Abdul Fattah Ismail. They were
supported by Cuban troops, five thousand of whom had been flown in from
Ethiopia only the previous week. Cuban pilots flying MiG fighters attacked the

palace and the defence ministry with cannon fire, while one or more Soviet
warships off-shore shelled the same targets. The fighting lasted for most 0 2
June, ending with the capture and swift execution of Salim Rubayyi Ali an is

closest associates. Ali Nasir Muhammad was installed as acting president in is
place, but the real victor was the fanatical Marxist ideologue, Abdul atta

Ismail. weeks
.
Fighting broke out at various places in South Yemen in the days an
that followed. It was probably inspired less by sentiment for the ^pre^
than by hatred for the victorious faction in the politburo, who ca e up•

Russians and the Cubans to help suppress the outbreaks. oilots
were reported to have shelled districts in the Hadramaut, w 1 e &
flew sorties against rebel strongholds. Thousands of South