Draft:Ali Salim al-Beidh
| Ali Salim al-Beidh | |
|---|---|
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| Name | Ali Salim al-Beidh |
| Other Names | {{{other_names}}} |
| Personal Details | |
| Birth Place | Hadramaut, Yemen |
| Brith Date | 1939 |
| Death Place | {{{death_place}}} |
| Death Date | {{{death_date}}} |
Ali Salim al-Beidh (Arabic: علي سالم البيض) was the General Secretary of the ruling Socialist Party and served as the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen from 1986 to 1990. He signed the unification agreement with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the President of Yemen, to establish the Republic of Yemen. On 22 May 1990, he raised the flag of unity in the capital of the South – the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen –[1].
Biography
Salim al-Beidh was born in 1939 in the village of Ma'bar in Hadramaut province and spent his primary and secondary education there[2].
Activities
Salim al-Beidh joined the Arab nationalist movement from the beginning and was one of the main figures in organizing the National Front; he was responsible for military operations in the eastern region "Hadramaut - Al-Mahrah" against the occupation of British. He completed several military courses in Cairo in the 1960s. He was also a serious opponent of the merger of the National Front and the Liberation Front (they had two different views on the philosophy of revolution and armed struggle for combat). He announced his decision to leave the National Front and form a controversial organization called the Popular Front for Liberation. After the failure of this merger, he returned to his main group and took over the deputy of military and security affairs in the interim government from the day before the anniversary.
Positions
He also served as Minister of Defense in the government for the first time in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen from independence until 1969 and held several government posts after the 22 June 1969 movement. He was a member of the Political Bureau of the National Front and the Socialist Party. However, he was deprived of his posts in the party and government during the era of Abdul Fattah Ismail due to several violences and abuses; but he soon returned to the scene[3].
Coup and Escape
He entered the scene of action as a fire under the ashes on the bloody day of 13 January 1986 at the Central Committee headquarters in Aden, but this time he allied with Abdul Fattah Ismail against Ali Nasser Muhammad and miraculously managed to escape death while the Political Bureau members were killed; after the killing of Abdul Fattah Ismail and Ali Antar, Ali Nasser Muhammad fled.
Agreement, Civil War and Asylum
In 1990, Salim al-Beidh signed a unification agreement with President Ali Abdullah Saleh for power sharing, but on 21 May 1994, the civil war ignited and continued until 7 July of the same year with the support and backing of some Persian Gulf countries. After the defeat in the war, he sought refuge in the neighboring country Oman and was granted political asylum and citizenship on the condition that he would not engage in political activity.
Claim of Independence of the South Yemen Government
On 21 May 2009, on the anniversary of unity between the two parts of Yemen, and in acceptance of the call of peaceful southern movements in South Yemen, Ali Salim al-Beidh went to Europe and declared his goal, which was to cut ties with the People's Democratic Yemen, which he claimed to be its president at the time of signing the unity of the two Yemens, and called for separation from the Yemen Arab Republic and asked Arab and international governments to recognize the South Yemen government with the argument that peaceful unity after the 1994 war was over and according to him the occupation of South Yemen by North Yemen was over. This plan was also supported by factors of the Yemen Socialist Party, southern sheikhs, independent groups and religious leaders, and all of them gathered under the flag of the peaceful southern movement and demanded the return of the independent South Yemen government that existed before the signing of unity between the two Yemens in 1990[4].