  ali salim al-beidh (, ) (born 1939) is a yemeni politician who served as the general secretary of the yemeni socialist party (ysp) in south yemen and as vice president of yemen following unification in 1990. he left the unification government in 1993, sparking the 1994 civil war in yemen and then went into exile in oman. he is a leader of the southern independence movement known as al harak. ==leadership in south yemen== a former politburo member, al-beidh took the top position in the ysp following a 12-day 1986 civil war between forces loyal to former chairman abdul fattah ismail and then-chairman ali nasir muhammad. an ismail ally, he took control after muhammad's defeat and defection and ismail's disappearance.busky, donald, communism in history and theory: asia, africa, and the americas, greenwood publishing group, 2002, page 74rouhollah k. ramazani and joseph a. kechichian, the gulf cooperation council: record and analysis, university of virginia press, 1988, page 125 in a coup that took the lives of anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 people, al-beidh was one of the few high-ranking officials who survived.halliday, fred, revolution and foreign policy: the case of south yemen, 1967-1987, cambridge university press, 2002, page 42 suffering a loss of more than half its aid from the soviet union from 1986 to 1989hurd, robert and noakes, greg, north and south yemen lead up to the break up, washington report on middle east affairs, july/august 1994, page 48 and an interest in possible oil reserves on the border between the countries, al-beidh's government worked toward unification with north yemen officials.jonsson, gabriel, towards korean reconciliation: socio-cultural exchanges and cooperation, ashgate publishing, ltd., 2006, pages 38-40coswell, alan, 2 yemens let animosity fizzle into coziness, new york times, 20 october 1989 ==unification and civil war== following 
1939_births Living_people Vice_Presidents_of_Yemen Yemeni_Socialist_Party_politicians