Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen
FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen) is the name of an underground nationalist organization in Aden and South Arabia. It was founded in 1966 through a merger of several underground groups, with encouragement from Egypt.
FLOSY was mainly an urban movement based in Aden, and had strong links with the trade unions. Its aim was to liberate South Arabia from British rule and unite it with Yemen. FLOSY was at first considered the most radical, and was the hope of the nationalists. However, it failed to develop a broad popular base in the countryside, where tribal and clan affiliations prevaiuled. The organization never developed effective guerrilla capabilities.
In 1967, the leftist "National Liberation Front" (NLF) succeeded in eliminating FLOSY in bloody fighting. The NLF was a much more extremist group than FLOSY. With independence, FLOSY`s leaders, notably Abdel-Qawwi Makkawi, were detained or forced into exile. Many went to Yemen or to Egypt. Yemen continued sustaining FLOSY for years, but the organization remained in exile and underground. It had no further significant influence on events in South Yemen.