View source for Ali Salem al-Beidh

{{Short description|Yemeni politician (born 1939)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ali Salem al-Beidh
| office              = [[Vice President of Yemen]]
| native_name         = {{nobold|علي سالم البيض}}
| image               = Ali Salem al-Beidh (cropped).png
| image_size          = 200px
| caption             = Portrait of al-Beidh 
| predecessor         = ''Position created''
| president           = [[Ali Abdullah Saleh]] {{small|(Chairman of the Presidential Council)}}
| primeminister       = [[Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas]]<br>[[Muhammad Said al-Attar]]
| successor           = [[Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi]] {{small|(Vice President)}}
| party               = [[Yemeni Socialist Party]]
| office1             = [[General Secretary]] of the [[Yemeni Socialist Party]]
| term_start1         = 24 January 1986
| term_end1           = 9 June 1994<ref>{{cite web |title=Memory of Time |url=http://www.moqatel.com/moqatelasp/search4.asp?page=39&country=%C7%E1%ED%E3%E4&event=&rating=&fdate=-900 |website=Al Moqatel |access-date=14 September 2023}}</ref>
| predecessor1        = [[Ali Nasir Muhammad]]
| successor1          = Ali Saleh Obad (Moqbel)
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1939|2|10}}
| birth_place         = [[Ar Raydah Wa Qusayar District|Ar Raydah Wa Qusayar]], [[Aden Protectorate]]<br>(present-day [[Yemen]])
| children            = 
| spouse              = 
| term_start          = 22 May 1990
| term_end            = 6 May 1994
| native_name_lang    = ar
| honorific_prefix    = ''[[Comrade#In other languages|al-Rafīq]]''
}}

'''Ali Salem al-Beidh''' ({{langx|ar|علي سالم البيض|translit=‘Alī Sālim al-Bīḍ}}; born 10 February 1939) is a [[Yemen]]i [[Maoism|Maoist]] politician<ref>{{Cite web |title=صحيفة شمسان نت |url=https://www.shmsan.net/news/36023 |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=www.shmsan.net}}</ref> who served as the General Secretary of the [[Yemeni Socialist Party]] (YSP) in [[South Yemen]] and as [[Vice President of Yemen]] following the [[Yemeni unification|unification]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-bab.com/yemen/gov/gov2.htm|title=Yemeni governments of the 1990s|work=al-bab.com|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228071035/http://www.al-bab.com/yemen/gov/gov2.htm|archivedate=28 February 2012}}</ref> He left the unification government in 1993, sparking the [[1994 civil war in Yemen]] and then went into exile in [[Oman]]. He is a leader of the Southern independence movement known as [[South Yemen Movement|Al Hirak]].

==Leadership in South Yemen==
He studied for a Commerce degree and became a School Teacher in [[Mukalla]] in 1961. He joined the [[National Liberation Front (South Yemen)|National Liberation Front]] in 1963 as the Local Committee founder in Mukalla, and went underground in 1965. In 1966 he was admitted into the [[Hadhramaut Governorate|Hadramawt]] Provincial Committee of the [[National Liberation Front (South Yemen)|NLF]]. After independence, he joined the [[Yemeni Socialist Party|YSP]]. In 1971 he was selected as the General Secretary of the Hadhramawt Provincial Committee and was admitted into the YSP National Central Committee as a Candidate-Member. Selected as Full Member of the Central Committee in 1975, well as Deputy Minister for School Education and Vocational Training. In 1977, he was admitted as Candidate Member for the YSP Politburo and a full Politburo member in 1981. Ali took the top position in the YSP following a [[South Yemen Civil War|12-day 1986 civil war]] between forces loyal to former chairman [[Abdul Fattah Ismail]] and then-chairman [[Ali Nasir Muhammad]]. An Ismail ally, he took control after Muhammad's defeat and defection and Ismail's disappearance.<ref>Busky, Donald, ''Communism in history and theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, page 74</ref><ref>Rouhollah K. Ramazani and Joseph A. Kechichian, ''The Gulf Cooperation Council: record and analysis'', University of Virginia Press, 1988, page 125</ref> In a coup that took the lives of anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 people, Ali was one of the few high-ranking officials who survived.<ref>Halliday, Fred, ''Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987'', Cambridge University Press, 2002, page 42</ref>

Suffering a loss of more than half its aid from the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1989<ref>Hurd, Robert and Noakes, Greg, [http://www.wrmea.com/component/content/article/156-1994-july-august/7557-north-and-south-yemen-lead-up-to-the-break-up.html North and South Yemen Lead Up to the Break Up], ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'', July/August 1994, Page 48</ref> and interest in possible oil reserves on the border between the countries, Ali's government worked toward unification with North Yemen officials.<ref>Jonsson, Gabriel, ''Towards Korean reconciliation: socio-cultural exchanges and cooperation'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006, pages 38-40</ref><ref>Coswell, Alan, [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/20/world/2-yemens-let-animosity-fizzle-into-coziness.html?scp=38&sq=%22north+yemen%22&st=nyt 2 Yemens Let Animosity Fizzle into Coziness], ''New York Times'', 20 October 1989</ref>

==Unification and Civil War==
Following the unification of [[South Yemen]] with the [[Yemen Arab Republic]] in 1990, he took up the position of vice-president in the transition government of unified Yemen. But in 1993, Ali quit the government and returned to the former Southern capital of [[Aden]], claiming that the new government was systematically marginalizing the southern people and ignoring the needs of the south. On 21 May 1994, as the South's military position weakened, Ali declared the [[Democratic Republic of Yemen]]. He served as the only President of the DRY, from 21 May to 7 July 1994. Ali fled to neighbouring [[Oman]] after the secession failed.

==Southern Movement==
{{main|Southern Movement}}
After fifteen years of living in [[exile]], Ali Salim al-Beidh resumed his political career on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the [[Yemeni unification]]. This came amid highly escalating tensions in the south, with clashes and violence between protesters and Yemeni security forces. In a televised speech from [[Kitzbühel]], [[Austria]], the former president called for a return of South Yemen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soutalgnoub.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5127:-gulf-news&catid=96:englishnews&Itemid=162|title=President Ali Salem al-Baid in a dialogue with Al GULF NEWS|author=صبرنيوز - SBR NEWS|accessdate=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://armiesofliberation.com/archives/2009/06/01/al-beidh-speech-52109-official-translation/ |title=Full Translated Speech of Ali Salem Al-Beidh |date=1 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120712201620/http://armiesofliberation.com/archives/2009/06/01/al-beidh-speech-52109-official-translation/ |archivedate=12 July 2012 }}</ref> Since then he has called for several demonstrations to demonstrate the strength of the movement.<ref>[http://www.al-tagheer.com/news.php?id=9570 Rally in Aden]</ref> These have continued into 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3&SubID=2948|title=Civil Disobedience Paralyzes Life in Some Southern Cities - Yemen Post English Newspaper Online|accessdate=22 March 2015}}</ref> As a result of his increased involvement, he lost his right to stay in Oman after violating the conditions of his citizenship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arab-reform.net/spip.php?article2086|title=Oman Strips Yemeni Dissident of Citizenship for Returning to Politics|date=25 May 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015157/http://arab-reform.net/spip.php?article2086|archivedate=23 July 2011}}</ref> Following the [[2011 Yemeni uprising]], he renewed calls for reinstating South Yemen as a separate country.<ref>{{cite web|date=2012-05-19|title=Ali Salim al-Beidh calls for secession|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/05/19/Ali-Salim-al-Beidh-calls-for-secession/UPI-48611337439826/|url-status=live|work=UPI|accessdate=22 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521113814/http://www.upi.com:80/Top_News/World-News/2012/05/19/Ali-Salim-al-Beidh-calls-for-secession/UPI-48611337439826/ |archive-date=21 May 2012 }}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[South Yemen insurgency]]
*[https://archive.today/20120712201620/http://armiesofliberation.com/archives/2009/06/01/al-beidh-speech-52109-official-translation/ 2009 speech]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Office created}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Vice President of Yemen|Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council of Yemen]]|years=1990–1994}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi]]|as=[[Vice President of Yemen]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beidh, Ali Salim}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Yemeni Socialist Party politicians]]
[[Category:Vice presidents of Yemen]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of South Yemen]]
[[Category:Yemeni expatriates in Oman]]