Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - National Liberation Front for South Yemen
The National Liberation Front (NLF) for Occupied South Yemen is a Militant nationalist organization. They have engaged in underground and guerrilla operations in Aden and South Arabia, and later in South Yemen. The NLF was founded in 1963, with Qahtan al-Sha`bi as its main leader. Its operational base was primarily in the remote areas of Aden. It was considered the strongest group in the nationalist rebellion of October 1963.
In 1966 the NLF came under the aegis of Flossy, but the same year it reestablished itself as a separate organization. In 1967 it gained increased authority over the South Arabian principalities, defeating both Flossy and the sheikhs` and princes` armed forces. This compelled the British to recognize the authority of the NLF rather than that of the princes, as they preferred.
In November 1967 the NLF formed the People`s Republic of South Yemen, with Qahtan al-Sha`bi as President. The ruling group controlled the govenment through a single party. The NLF had been closely associated with, and influenced by, the Arab Nationalist Movement (Harakat al-Qawmiyyin oj-Arab) and its increasingly Leninist-Maoist ideas. Initially, they had the reluctant support of Egypt, even though Egyptian policy favored Flossy. Beginning around 1967, the NLF became more leftist and gradually submitted to guidance from Moscow. The NLF was by this time essentially a communist party and there were some years of struggle between Russia-oriented and China-oriented factions. In October 1978 the NLF, still the ruling single party, renamed itself "Yemen Socialist Party."