HARDLINER TAKEOVER COULD DRAW S. YEMEN INTO TERRORIST 'MAFIA'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100260013-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: January 21, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100260013-1
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE 7r4 _
21 January 1986
Hardliner takeover could draw
S. Yemen into terrorist `mafia'
By James Morrison
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
South Yemen will join the "Iran-
Syria-Libya mafia" of international
terrorism if hardline Marxist rebels
take over the country from the exist-
ing pro-Soviet regime, an American
expert on terrorism predicted yes-
terday.
Ray Cline, who recently coau-
thored a book on state-sponsored
terrorism, also speculated that-
Libya's Col. Muammar Qaddafi or
Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
are behind the South Yemen civil
war to extend their influence to the
strategic Bab el-Mandeb, the straits
that lead to the Red Sea and on to the
Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.
Another terrorism expert, John
Rees, pointed out that South Yemen
has long been a strong supporter of
terrorism and nothing much will
change no matter which side wins.
As the experts debate the even-
tual outcome of the fighting, jour-
nalists and diplomats from listening
posts on the Horn of Africa are try-
ing to make sense of the events in the
shadowy Arab country. Some news
reports had the rebels in charge yes-
terday, and other reports said the
government had regained control of
the country where some 9,000 peo-
ple have died in more than a week of
fighting.
The State Department has said
virtually nothing about the civil war
that broke out Jan. 13. A spokesman
declined yesterday to speculate on
the effect a more radical regime
would have on Middle East peace
prospects or on shipping routes
through the Red Sea. The United
States has no diplomatic relations
Map by Paul Woodward The Washington Times
with South Yemen.
Mr. Cline, a terrorism analyst with
Georgetown University's Center for
Strategic International Studies, pre-
dicted that a rebel victory could fur-
ther tilt the scales in favor of Libya,
Iran and Syria.
Those countries, considered the
world's leading proponents of ter-
rorism, seek not only to expel Israel
from the Middle East but also to ter-
rorize any moderate Arab country
cooperating with Israel in peace
talks.
"If you get a more violent group
running the place:' Mr. Cline said in
an interview, "you will encourage
the wilder cards in the terrorist
camp:'
A rebel victory "will tend to add
South Yemen to the Iran, Syria,
Libya mafia:' Mr. Cline said. "I dare,
say that's what it was all about and
I'll bet that Khomeini or Qaddafi
were up to their necks in it:'
The State Department says Iran,
Syria and Libya sponsor, train and
protect terrorists but lists South Ye-
men as a relatively minor player.
South Yemen has not "partici-
pated directly in international ter-
rorist acts" but has "supported
international terrorism since the
late 1960s by providing camps and
other facilities for a number of left-
ist terrorist groups:' the State De-
partment said in its 1984 report on
"Global Terrorism," released last
November.
South Yemen's latest "level of sup-
port was limited to the provision of
safe haven for Palestinian groups:'
the report said.
But Mr. Rees said South Yemen
has "always been in the forefront of
terrorism. Every one's been in and
out of South Yemen. But because of
its isolation and miserable climate,
it's a haven of last resort" for terror-
ists.
He said the civil war there is a
power struggle between Arab tribes
and compared the fighting to the
coup in Afghanistan more than six
years ago when the Soviet Union re-
placed one pro-Moscow regime with
another.
"They are probably the most
quarrelsome tribes in the Arab
world:' Mr. Rees said of some 85
tribes that in the country.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/24: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100260013-1