ABSTRACT
It cannot be the purpose of this short chapter to present a full account of the relations between the two Yemens since the early 1960s. The history of Yemen, documented over three millennia, gave the population of the present two parts of the country a sense of a common cultural heritage and is the basis of their ‘dream of unity’, as it is frequently called. The fall of the Imam and the installation of the Republic in the northern part encouraged the struggle for independence in the South. By 1970 events in both states had highlighted the stark divergences. In South Yemen the government has succeeded during the past ten years in eliminating internal opposition and in creating a relatively coherent and centralised state with a powerful party apparatus and party organisations which reach all groups of the population. In the confrontation in early spring 1979 the NDF played an important role, siding with South Yemeni forces.
