Arabs sever all S.Yemen ties

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 8

Arabs sever all S.Yemen ties

NZPA-Reuter Cairo South Yemen faces politi-j cal isolation from much of the Arab world and severe: economic hardship after', Arab Foreign Ministers de-; |cided on Sunday to boycott l lit in all fields. The move was announced! I at the final session of an emergency two-day meeting of the Arab League Council called by North Yemen, which charged that South Yemen was responsible for the assassination of President Ahmed Hussain Ghashmi eight days ago. Apart from condemning what they described as a “morbid crime,” the Ministers decided to freeze political and diplomatic relations and halt all technical aid being provided by Arab countries. It is the toughest ■ action taken by the league against a member State. Arab League sources said that Saudi Arabia had pro- ’ vided South Yemen with ( some SUS2OO million in aid over the last few years and ’ that a number of Gulf States 1 had been involved in building hospitals and schools in ! the country.’ This would 1 [probably now stop. < ' South Yemen’s only ■ • friends in the Arab world 1 Inow are the other four "re- 1 Ijectionist” States — Syria,; [lraq, Algeria, and Libya —'< (which together with Aden;, oppose President Anwar i i Sadat’s peace moves with Is- < irae). < [ The newspaper also said j (that at a closed meeting , the t

Ministers had condemned (the Soviet. Cuban, and East, [German presence in South 1 (Yemen as a threat to the se-j ;'curity of the entire Arab! [world. ; In Sanaa, North Yemen, :j well-informed sources have said that almost 6000 people (I were killed or wounded by Cuban-piloted warplanes and , Soviet naval shelling during I the overthrow of the South Yemeni President, Salem Robaya Ali, last Monday. The Presidental palace, the Defence Ministry, and a nearby Palestinian Fatah guerrilla base had been destroyed by the bombardments, the sources said. President Robaya Ali was executed by firing squad during the insurrection by forces led by Abdul Fattah Ismail, chief of the ruling National Front. Western diplomats in Sanaa have said that the South Yemeni armed forces are equipped and trained by Soviet and Cuban officers, while security police units are organised by East German experts. Informed sources in Sanaa] said it was believed that an! official envoy sent by Presi-p dent Robaya Ali was not re-;' sponsible for the assassin-a-; tion of the North Yemeni] President on June 24. I 1 j The sources said the 'envoy had been detained at' (Aden Airport, and another man took his place and( came to Sanaa with a briefcase packed with plastic explosives which killed President Ghashmi.