Politics and social life
South Yemen's ethnic groups are ethnic Yemeni
Arabs (92.8%),
Somalis (3.7%), Afro-Arab 1.1%, Indians and Pakistanis (1%), and other (1.4%) (2000). The only recognised political party in South Yemen was the
Yemeni Socialist Party, which ran the country and the economy along self-described
Marxist lines, modelled on the
Soviet Union.
[17]
Women's rights under the socialist government were considered the best in the region. Women became legally equal to men and were encouraged to work in public; polygamy, child marriage, and arranged marriage were all banned; and equal rights in divorce received legal sanction.
[18][19][20][21][22]
The
Supreme People's Council was appointed by the General Command of the
National Liberation Front in 1971.
In Aden, there was a structured judicial system with a
Supreme Court.[
citation needed]
Education was paid for through general taxation.[
citation needed]
Income equality improved, corruption was reduced, and health and educational services expanded.
[18]
There was no housing crisis in South Yemen. Surplus housing built by the British meant that there were few homeless people in Aden, and people built their own houses out of
adobe and
mud in the
rural areas.[
citation needed]
South Yemen developed as a
Marxist-Leninist, mostly secular
[23] society ruled first by the
National Liberation Front, which later morphed into the ruling
Yemeni Socialist Party. The only avowedly
Marxist-Leninist nation in the Middle East, South Yemen received significant
foreign aid and
other assistance from the
USSR[24] and
East Germany, which stationed several hundred officers of the
Stasi in the country to train the nation's
secret police and establish another
arms trafficking route to
Palestine.
[25] The East Germans did not leave until 1990, when the Yemeni government declined to pay their salaries which had been terminated with the
dissolution of the Stasi during
German reunification.
