59. Special Report Prepared in the Central Intelligence Agency1
THE CONFLICT IN SOUTH ARABIA
The recent British campaign to put down the Egyptian-aided tribal rebellion in the Radfan area of the South Arabian Federation has focused attention on a border that has never been wholly defined and on problems of dissidence and sovereignty which for centuries have plagued whoever has held Aden and its surrounding hinterland. The largest natural port between Suez and the Persian Gulf, Aden has always played a major role in the trade of the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula, and its history has been intimately bound up with that of Yemen proper. Indeed, in traditional Arab usage, the term “al-Yemen” has been understood to include the area that now comprises the South Arabian Federation, and Yemenis and Arab nationalists often refer to this territory as the “occupied Yemeni south.” Cairo, despite only lukewarm support from the Yemeni republican regime, now appears determined to end that “occupation.” London seems equally determined to hang on because Aden’s strategic importance—both militarily and economically—is all the more pronounced in view of the loss of British influence elsewhere in the Middle East.
[Here follows the body of the special report.]
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Komer Files, Saudi Arabia, 12/1/63-12/31/64. Secret; No Foreign Dissem. Prepared in the Office of Current Intelligence.↩