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The new regime considers itself a victim of terrorism in the shoot-out of ( 1986, so it has written new rules. According to Foreign Minister Abdul Aziz Ad-dali, it now strictly adheres to United Nations terrorism standards. "Revolutionaries like members of the P.L.O. or the African National Congress are welcome," he said, "but you will not find one terrorist here."
South Yemen wants to forge a political and economic union with North Yemen, its bigger, more conservative and Western-oriented neighbor. Al Attas regards the merger as his country's "crucial" issue. "We are all Yemenis," he says. "We find it very important to raise the level of cooperation between our two countries." To that end, a newfound oil concession near the North Yemen border has been earmarked for joint development. The border is now open, plans for a combined power grid have been drawn, and a fresh draft of a unified constitution is almost ready for ratification. But past relations have been so rocky that skeptics doubt that the grandiose dreams of one Yemen nation can be realized. "I can't see how the north and this socialist government can ever be put together," says one veteran Western diplomat in Aden.
Oil is the grease not just for diplomatic outreach but for South Yemen's attempts at bootstrap development. In 1987 Soviet geologists discovered a little of the black gold beneath the desert sands near Shabwa. When the first wells begin gushing in 1990, the area may produce up to 70,000 barrels a day. That small but steady output will bring $240 million a year into South Yemen's treasury.
The Soviets' major practical contribution has been prospecting for and developing oil. Eight Russian rigs are drilling in Shabwa, and the Soviets are searching out more untapped desert pools. Now the Yemeni government is urging Moscow to speed up other large projects long promised. The Kremlin has been slow to finish a $450 million power plant begun eleven years ago. But after a row in Aden last June, trained Soviet labor began arriving, bringing the imported contingent of skilled workers to more than 2,000.
The Yemenis are also cautiously looking West for more help. Canadian and French oil companies have signed contracts for oil exploration and drilling. And for the first time since British rule ended, Western businessmen are again traveling to Aden to invest in the government's ambitious plans.
Still, South Yemen remains firmly in the Soviet orbit. Aden's strategic location gives the Soviet navy a deep-water port with excellent facilities to service its large Indian Ocean fleet. From there, Soviet ships could control access in or out of the Red Sea, a choke point of global importance. South Yemen refuses to accord the U.S.S.R. full base rights for its navy, and is rumored to restrict port calls by Soviet warships to twelve a year. But bunkering and repair services are always available.
Little has changed as yet in this impoverished land. Around Aden, a busy port where several thousand ships call each year, swarm laborers clad in sarongs and tribal headgear. The nation comes close to feeding itself but its searing bone-dry desert climate offers little room for agricultural expansion. Except for a 1950s Chinese-built textile mill and an old refinery, there is little manufacturing. Much of the country is pitifully underemployed.