:World Defense Forces
Branches:
ground, maritime, and air forces at all levels of technology
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 1,400,000,000; NA fit for military service
Defense expenditures:
$1.0 trillion, 4% of total world output; decline of 5-10% (1991 est.)
:Yemen Geography
Total area:
527,970 km2
Land area:
527,970 km2; includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or
North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or
South Yemen)
Comparative area:
slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming
Land boundaries:
1,746 km total; Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km
Coastline:
1,906 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
North - 18 nm; South - 24 nm
Continental shelf:
North - 200 meters (depth); South - edge of continental margin or 200 nm
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
undefined section of boundary with Saudi Arabia; Administrative Line with
Oman; there is a proposed treaty with Oman (which has not yet been formerly
accepted) to settle the Yemeni-Omani boundary
Climate:
mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western
mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh
desert in east
Terrain:
narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains;
dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of
the Arabian Peninsula
Natural resources:
crude oil, fish, rock salt, marble; small deposits of coal, gold, lead,
nickel, and copper; fertile soil in west
Land use:
arable land 6%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 30%; forest and
woodland 7%; other 57%; includes irrigated NEGL%
Environment:
subject to sand and dust storms in summer; scarcity of natural freshwater
resources; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification
Note:
controls Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,
one of world's most active shipping lanes
:Yemen People
Population:
10,394,749 (July 1992), growth rate 3.3% (1992)
Birth rate:
51 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
16 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
-3 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
118 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
49 years male, 52 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
7.3 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Yemeni(s); adjective - Yemeni
Ethnic divisions:
North - Arab 90%, Afro-Arab (mixed) 10%; South - almost all Arabs; a few
Indians, Somalis, and Europeans
Religions:
North - Muslim almost 100% (45% Sunni and 55% Zaydi Shi`a); NEGL Jewish;
South - Sunni Muslim, some Christian and Hindu
Languages:
Arabic
Literacy:
38% (male 53%, female 26%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force:
North - NA number of workers with agriculture and herding 70%, and
expatriate laborers 30% (est.); South - 477,000 with agriculture 45.2%,
services 21.2%, construction 13.4%, industry 10.6%, commerce and other 9.6%
(1983)
Organized labor:
North - NA; South - 348,200 and the General Confederation of Workers of the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen had 35,000 members
:Yemen Government
Long-form name:
Republic of Yemen
Type:
republic
Capital:
Sanaa
Administrative divisions:
17 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, `Adan, Al Bayda',
Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb,
Lahij, Ma'rib, Sa`dah, San`a', Shabwah, Ta`izz
Independence:
Republic of Yemen was established on 22 May 1990 with the merger of the
Yemen Arab Republic {Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen} and the Marxist-dominated
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen {Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen};
previously North Yemen had become independent on NA November 1918 (from the
Ottoman Empire) and South Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967
(from the UK); the union is to be solidified during a 30-month transition
period, which coincides with the remainder of the five-year terms of both
legislatures
Constitution:
16 April 1991
Legal system:
based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local customary
law; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday:
Proclamation of the Republic, 22 May (1990)
Executive branch:
five-member Presidential Council (president, vice president, two members
from northern Yemen and one member from southern Yemen), prime minister
Legislative branch:
unicameral House of Representatives
Judicial branch:
North - State Security Court; South - Federal High Court
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government:
President `Ali `Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former president of
North Yemen); Vice President Ali Salim al-BIDH (since 22 May 1990, and
Secretary General of the Yemeni Socialist Party); Presidential Council
Member Salim Salih MUHAMMED; Presidential Council Member Kadi Abdul-Karim
al-ARASHI; Presidential Council Member Abdul-Aziz ABDUL-GHANI; Prime
Minister Haydar Abu Bakr al-`ATTAS (since 22 May 1990, former president of
South Yemen)
Political parties and leaders:
General People's Congress, `Ali `Abdallah SALIH; Yemeni Socialist Party
(YSP; formerly South Yemen's ruling party - a coalition of National Front,
Ba`th, and Communist Parties), Ali Salim al-BIDH; Yemen Grouping for Reform
or Islaah, Abdallah Husayn AHMAR
Suffrage:
universal at age 18
Elections:
House of Representatives:
last held NA (next to be held NA November 1992); results - percent of vote
NA; seats - (301); number of seats by party NA; note - the 301 members of
the new House of Representatives come from North Yemen's Consultative
Assembly (159 members), South Yemen's Supreme People's Council (111
members), and appointments by the New Presidential Council (31 members)
Communists:
small number in North, greater but unknown number in South
:Yemen Government
Other political or pressure groups:
conservative tribal groups, Muslim Brotherhood, leftist factions - pro-Iraqi
Ba`thists, Nasirists, National Democratic Front (NDF)
Member of:
ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD,
IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OIC, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation:
Ambassador Muhsin Ahmad al-AYNI; Chancery at Suite 840, 600 New Hampshire
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037; telephone (202) 965-4760 or 4761; there is
a Yemeni Consulate General in Detroit and a Consulate in San Francisco
US:
Ambassador Arthur H. HUGHES; Embassy at Dhahr Himyar Zone, Sheraton Hotel
District, Sanaa (mailing address is P. O. Box 22347 Sanaa, Republic of Yemen
or Sanaa - Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-6330); telephone [967]
(2) 238-842 through 238-852; FAX [967] (2) 251-563
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; similar to the
flag of Syria which has two green stars and of Iraq which has three green
stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the
white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt which has a symbolic eagle
centered in the white band