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Military Command Council
Military junta rule North Yemen (1974-78)

The Military Command Council or MCC (Arabic: مجلس القيادة العسكرية) was a Nasserist military junta consisted of seven military officers, that ruled the Yemen Arab Republic from 1974 to 1978.

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History

Nasserist officers gained power in 1962, when the Kingdom of Yemen suffered an army military coup against King Badr, triggering an eight-year civil war. At great cost to the country, the revolutionaries eventually won the war and ended the Yemeni monarchy.2

On June 13, 1974, a bloodless coup d'etat took place in the Yemen Arab Republic: a group of military officers overthrew Yemen's last civilian leader, Abdul Rahman al-Eryani.3 Yemeni state radio announced that a council of seven Yemeni army colonels had been created to govern the country (which is MCC). According to the radio, the council was headed by Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi, who organized the coup. Hamdi became next official North Yemeni president (officially only in 1975).4 The MCC junta began to implement a series of ambitious reforms, which Hamdi called "Revolutionary Corrective Initiative."5 The indirect election system in rural areas (which has used by Eryani's government) led to Parliament being dominated by tribal elites,6 but it was suspended by the MCC in 1974, in order to try to reduce the tribal elite's power.7 The junta led by Hamdi has attempted to implement social reforms and modernize conservative tribal Yemen (creating a number of committees to implement them). Junta fought corruption, initiated a grand infrastructure plan, sought to educate the population (It's allocated 31% of the country's annual budget to education) and reorganized the army. But also under MCC and Hamdi, the role of the army in the political system and public life expanded: the army's intervention in political life returned, and military rule became a feature of the political system.8 Junta also made attempts at rapprochement with South Yemen: for example, in February 1977, the "Kataba Agreement" was concluded, which provided for the formation of a Yemeni council of presidents al-Hamdi and Salem Rubaya Ali (South Yemeni president) to discuss and resolve all border issues that concern the united Yemeni people and to coordinate efforts in all areas, including foreign policy.9 In any case, president Hamdi was assassinated on October 10, 1977, presumably by Saudi agent (Saudi Arabia had its own motives for that: for example Hamdi oppose to Saudi influence in North Yemen).10

Lt. Colonel Ahmad Hussein al-Ghashmi was chosen as chairman of a three-member Presidential Council on October 11, 1977. The MCC issued a decree on February 6, 1978, which provided for the establishment of a Constituent Assembly. Al-Ghashmi was elected president by the Constituent People’s Assembly on April 22, 1978. Soon, in May, the government suppressed a military rebellion led by Major Aalim, resulting in the deaths of some 50 individuals. Under Ghashmi, the junta changed its policy: Ghashmi was a conservative who wanted to roll back Hamdi's reforms and get closer to Saudi Arabia again. However, Ghashmi's reign over the junta lasted even less: he was assassinated just 8 months into his rule, in Sana’a, on June 24, 1978, and a now just three-member Military Command Council headed by Abdel Karim al-Arashi took control of the government on June 25, 1978.11

The Constituent People’s Assembly elected Lt. Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh as president on July 17, 1978. On August 10, 1978, his government sentenced 30 military officers to death for their involvement in the May 1978 military rebellion. President Saleh suppressed a military rebellion on October 15, 1978, and 21 individuals were executed for their involvement in the military rebellion on October 27 and November 15, 1978. Some 150 individuals were killed in political violence between April 1970 and December 1978.12 Saleh rolled back Hamdi's reforms. Although everyone was sure that Saleh would not stay in power for long, to everyone's surprise, he survived and was able to consolidate his power and hold on to it for decades.13 During Saleh's rule, the ruling regime gradually transformed from a collective rule by a council of military officers to an authoritarian dictatorship of Saleh with his personality cult. In fact, the MCC ceased to exist or play any important role after Saleh came to power.

Bibliography

References

  1. "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/north-yemen-1944-present/ ↩

  2. "Yemen". MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 2009-10-28. Retrieved August 29, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20091028231515/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578405_6/Yemen.html ↩

  3. "Abdul-Rahman Al-Eryani, Ex-Yemen President, 89". The New York Times. 1998-03-17. Retrieved 2009-02-13. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/17/world/abdul-rahman-al-iryani-ex-yemen-president-89.html ↩

  4. "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/north-yemen-1944-present/ ↩

  5. Barany, Zoltan (2016). "Yemen's Armies from Ottoman Rule to Unification". The Challenges of Building a National Army in Yemen: 6–14. JSTOR resrep23345.6. /wiki/JSTOR_(identifier) ↩

  6. Nohlen 2001, p. 293. - Nohlen, Dieter (2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook, Volume I: Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199249589. https://books.google.com/books?id=BVFBXa69tWMC&dq=Nohlen+yemen&pg=PA293 ↩

  7. Nohlen 2001, p. 297. - Nohlen, Dieter (2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook, Volume I: Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199249589. https://books.google.com/books?id=BVFBXa69tWMC&dq=Nohlen+yemen&pg=PA293 ↩

  8. Al-Taweel 2009. - Al-Taweel, Nasser (2009). الحركة الاسلامية والنظام السياسي في اليمن [The Islamic Movement and the Political System in Yemen] (in Arabic). Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Public Library. ↩

  9. "موقع سفارة الجمهورية اليمنية بالقاهرة و المندوبية الدائمة لدى جامعة الدول العربية". www.yemenembassy-cairo.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20180402163332/http://www.yemenembassy-cairo.com/aboutyemen4.asp ↩

  10. Terrill, W. Andrew (2011). The Conflicts in Yemen and U.s. National Security (Report). Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. p. 7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep11758 ↩

  11. "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/north-yemen-1944-present/ ↩

  12. "10. Kingdom of Yemen/Yemen Arab Republic/North Yemen (1918-1990)". uca.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/north-yemen-1944-present/ ↩

  13. Ufheil-Somers, Amanda (1985-02-03). "North Yemen Today". MERIP. Retrieved 2025-03-24. https://merip.org/1985/02/north-yemen-today/ ↩