Draft:Abdulrahman Ali al-Jifri

Abdulrahman Ali al-Jifri
Name	Abdulrahman Ali al-Jifri
Other Names	{{{other_names}}}
Personal Details
Birth Place	Yashbum, Shabwah Governorate
Brith Date	November 1943
Death Place	{{{death_place}}}
Death Date	{{{death_date}}}
Religion	Islam

Abdulrahman Ali al-Jifri is a political leader and one of the opposition leaders in Yemen. He was the Vice President of the Presidential Council of the short-lived government of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, established on 21 May 1994. He was also the President of the National Front Opposed to Secession, an opposition group that fought briefly against secession from the Republic of Yemen in 1994 and was defeated. He currently leads a group of former socialist leaders who fled the country in 1994.

Birth and upbringing

He was born in November 1943 in Yashbum, Shabwah Governorate, and learned the Quran at his father's school in Yashbum. His elementary and primary education was at Al-Abdullah and Al-Muhsiniyah schools in Lahj, and his secondary education was at Helwan School in Cairo, Egypt.

Education

He spent two years at the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, and received a Bachelor of Military Science degree from the Military Academy in February 1965. He was the first non-Egyptian student to leave the university. In 1964, Abdulrahman received the Culture Prize for his thesis on Positive Neutrality and Non-Aligned Policy, which was published in the same year in the Armed Forces Magazine of the United Arab Republic. Later, from 1973 to 1975, he completed a military engineering course at the Taif Military Engineering College and studied English, computer programming, and business management in London.

Political Activities

Start of Political Activities

Abdul Rahman joined the Youth Party Union in 1956 at the age of thirteen and was one of the pioneers in establishing the Youth Organization for the Solidarity of African-Asian Peoples. The Youth Party Union was one of the oldest and smallest opposition parties in the country.

Abdul Rahman was the representative of the Youth Organization at the celebration of the first anniversary of the United Arab Republic in 1959. At a carnival on 2 February, held with the presence of more than one hundred thousand people in Tahrir Square, Cairo, he spoke on its behalf. He was only sixteen years old at the time.

In 1965, two rival nationalist groups, the Front for the Liberation of South Yemen and the National Liberation Front, resorted to terrorism to fight for control of the country. Abdul Rahman participated in the struggle against the Federation of South Arabia supported by Britain. Facing uncontrollable violence, British forces withdrew and the Federation government collapsed. Elements of the National Liberation Front, after eliminating their rival, the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen, quickly took control. Abdul Rahman was forced to emigrate from his homeland with his colleagues. In 1968, after the final siege of the Royalists in Sana'a, most opposition leaders reconciled and returned to their homeland.

In 1970, Abdul Rahman participated in the newly established National Unity Movement in Sana'a. The National Unity Coalition included the League, the Liberation Front, the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen, and separatists from the National Liberation Front.

After completing his studies in London, Abdul Rahman worked as a General Manager for a number of investment companies in the Persian Gulf region. In November 1986, he was elected as party chairman at the Seventh General Conference. He was elected as President by the Eighth General Conference in Sana'a in 1992 and was chairman of the preparatory committee for the National Conference.

Formation of the National Opposition Front

Abdul Rahman represented the Union in the establishment of the National Opposition Front, which was the most successful opposition coalition in the Yemeni political arena. He was the party's representative on the Dialogue Committee, which was a direct result of the Front's pressure on the ruling government. He drafted the basics of the Charter document and submitted the document on behalf of the Union to the National Opposition Front in October 1993. The National Opposition Front submitted this document to the Dialogue Committee in Sana'a on 18 December 1993.

Intra-coalition conflicts led to the exile of Vice President Ali Salim al-Beidh to Aden in August 1993, resulting in the deterioration of the general security situation and the stability of his political opponents, and the exploitation of the unstable situation by dozens of tribal elements. Haider Abu Bakr al-Attas (former Prime Minister of South Yemen) continued as Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen, but his government was ineffective due to political conflicts. Continuous negotiations between Northern and Southern leaders led to the signing of the Covenant and Agreement of 1994 in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on 20 February 1994.

Abdul Rahman signed this covenant as a member. He, along with Omar al-Ghawi, expressed concern regarding the implementation mechanism. He warned the government against using this document as a pretext for conflict. He participated with members of the Joint Dialogue Committee in an effort to calm the situation following the painful events in Amran. Despite this, conflicts intensified until the start of the civil war in early May 1994.

Civil War

Southern leaders, with the support of the Saudis, declared secession and established the Democratic Republic of Yemen on 21 May 1994, but it was not recognized by the international community. Although the Southerners had their own motivations for the war, Northern leaders had long claimed that the Saudis supported the Southern cause as a way to advance their border disputes with the Republic of Yemen. Supporters of Ali Nasser Muhammad, who contributed significantly to military operations against the separatists, were arrested in Aden on 7 July 1994. Resistance collapsed quickly and thousands of Southern leaders and military personnel were exiled.

When the war started in Aden, Abdul Rahman was with his friend Omar al-Ghawi. He quickly called for an end to the war on behalf of the National Opposition Front on 9 May 1994. He participated in the government of the Democratic Republic of Yemen as Vice Chairman of the Presidential Council to end the war and unite Yemen on a sound basis that would help achieve stability and security in accordance with the document it possessed, and the unity of the Yemeni masses and all political and social forces. Among the main leaders, Abdul Rahman was the last person to leave Aden on 7 July 1994 to prevent bloodshed and save Yemen from destruction.

After the defeat in the war, Opposition Front leaders fled to several Arab countries, and Abdul Rahman lived in exile. The National Opposition Front was based in London, where, despite retreating from their separatist stance, they launched a propaganda campaign against the Sana'a government. In January 1995, Abdul Rahman was elected as Chairman of the National Opposition Front.

Life after the civil war

In October 1997, Abdulrahman delivered a speech on Yemen at a human rights conference held by Chatham House at the University of Exeter, London, which was published.

In 1998, separatist leaders were tried in absentia for treason. Five were sentenced to death, but Abdulrahman was sentenced to 10 years of suspended imprisonment, and the possibility of his return remained open.

Abdulrahman, like the Al-Abnaa al-Yaman Union, also decided to abandon violence and believed in dialogue and moderation to resolve political and social issues. His faith and tolerance corresponded with the Quranic verses: "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction and argue with them in a way that is best" and "And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend".

Studies have been published about him, the first of which was by Awad al-Arashani from Al-Ahram Press titled Abdulrahman al-Jifri: Confrontation and Challenge, and another From Jerusalem for Studies and Research as a Reading in the Thought of Abdulrahman al-Jifri, President of the National Opposition Front.

Political writings

Abdulrahman participated in the authorship and editing of many party books, some of which are as follows:

• A True Vision on the Issue of Unity 1987;
• Reality and Alternative 1987; Refutation of a Theory by Omar Jarallah 1989;
• The Struggle: Facts and Positions;
• The Party: Truth and Authenticity;
• Yemen! Where To?
• Roots and Solutions: Presented at the University of London Conference in September 1995;
• A Vision for Unifying Yemeni Opposition Efforts;
• The Path of the People and the Charismatic Leader 1980.

Children

Abdulrahman has two sons: Ali al-Jifri, a researcher who currently resides in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and lectures at the renowned Islamic University of Dar al-Mustafa, and founded the Tabah Foundation in Abu Dhabi in 1995. He also has one daughter and 11 grandchildren, the eldest of whom is Alawi Hassan al-Jifri, born in 1995.