Vice president who twice remade the leadership, killed by a comrade's guards
On the morning before the meeting, he told Lebanese Communist leader George Hawi, "Today we intend to make specific proposals, and if Ali Nasir rejects them, I'll pull out my gun and shoot myself."
A guerrilla of the National Liberation Front who became a soldier and politician, serving as minister of defense and vice president of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. He reorganized the army along Soviet lines and led the 1978 ouster of Salim Rubai Ali and the 1980 removal of Abd al-Fattah Ismail, reaching the core of power. He later opposed Ali Nasir Muhammad's economic liberalization and became a center of the opposition until, shot dead by presidential guards at the Politburo meeting of January 13, 1986, his killing prompted the officer corps to desert the president and ignited the South Yemen civil war.
Career timeline
- 1963Fought on the Dhale and Radfan fronts of the October 14 revolution
- 1969Army commander and member of the first Presidential Council
- 1970Deputy minister of defense
- 1975Graduated the Soviet General Staff Academy
- 1978Led the coup that ousted Salim Rubai Ali
- 1980Vice president and first deputy premier; engineered Ismail's resignation
- 1981Removed as minister of defense
- 1986Shot dead at the Politburo meeting
Leader of South Yemen’s Socialist Party
Founder and chief ideologue of the Yemeni Socialist Party, he was South Yemen's de facto leader from 1978 to 1980 and died in the 1986 civil war.
A South Yemeni revolutionary leader central to the Yemeni Socialist Party’s formation in 1978. He left power in 1980 and stayed in the USSR, then returned and opposed Ali Nasir Muhammad. He died during the armed party conflict in 1986.
Career timeline
- 1963Co-founded the NLF and led its underground fedayeen in Aden
- 1967Minister of Culture, National Guidance and Yemeni Unity
- 1969NLF Central Committee Secretary-General, de facto leader
- 1971Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council (head of state)
- 1978Founded the Yemeni Socialist Party, its first General Secretary
- 1979Signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR
- 1980Resigned all posts citing health, then moved to Moscow
- 1985Returned and rejoined the YSP Central Committee as Secretary
South Yemeni policy conflict and the 1986 crisis
Before leaving he declared 'I have made too many concessions already. I will not make any more'; two months later the Aden civil war erupted.
After serving as South Yemen’s prime minister, he became party and state leader in 1980. He favored pragmatic adjustments in foreign relations and economic management, while conflict with Ismail’s faction intensified. He lost power after the 1986 Aden fighting and fled to North Yemen.
Career timeline
- 1969–1977Minister of Defense
- 1971–1985Prime Minister of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen)
- 1978Chairman of the Presidential Council
- 1980–1986General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council
- 1986Ousted, fled to North Yemen
- 1994Mobilized his supporters on the Sana'a side in the civil war
The last leader of South Yemen
Sentenced to death by Ali Nasir Muhammad in the January 1986 clashes, he survived and rose to General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party.
A South Yemeni revolutionary who led the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen through its final years as General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party. An ally of Abdul Fattah Ismail, he survived the January 1986 fighting in Aden, and after Ali Nasir Muhammad's forces were defeated he took over the party and state. He became the first vice-president of unified Yemen in 1990, but resigned in 1993 and proclaimed the short-lived Democratic Republic of Yemen during the 1994 civil war; in exile he led the southern independence movement al-Hirak.
Career timeline
- 1963Joined the NLF and founded its local committee in Mukalla
- 1967–1969Minister of Defense
- 1978Elected Politburo member and Central Committee secretary at the YSP founding congress
- 1986–1990General Secretary of the YSP, South Yemen's last leader
- 1990–1993Vice-president of unified Yemen
- 1994President of the Democratic Republic of Yemen (21 May to 7 July), exiled to Oman after its failure
- 2009–Leader of the southern independence movement, al-Hirak
