British Taking Westerners Out of South Yemen

The British Foreign Office announced Friday that it is evacuating British and other Western nationals from South Yemen, where heavy fighting over five days after an attempted coup has turned the capital of Aden into a battlefield.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the evacuation is being carried out using the royal yacht Britannia, which was in the area on its way to New Zealand. Three British warships, including a frigate, are also standing off South Yemen. The spokesman said the warships would be used as a last resort. A French warship is also reported off Aden.

About 80 Britons and 200 other Western nationals are believed to be in the country, the British official said. A far larger number of Soviet citizens reside there, and Soviet merchant ships are also reported to be offshore to evacuate them.

Details Sketchy

It was unclear late Friday how many Westerners had been evacuated because many had reportedly been pinned down by rocket and small arms fire in the capital.

The evacuees were being ferried in small boats running between the Aden beach and the Britannia standing just out of artillery range. Some of the small boats reportedly came under fire, the British official said.

The evacuation began after Soviet-sponsored peace talks collapsed and new battles began in the struggle between rival Marxist factions, diplomatic sources said.

They said heavily armed fighters from mutually hostile tribes were moving on Aden from nearby hills to join the battle that began Monday with a reported coup attempt against President Ali Nasser Hasani, who has been making overtures to Arab states friendly to the West.

British Foreign Office officials said reports from the area indicated that those fighting seemed to be divided more on tribal lines, but the differences were being expressed in political terms.

“The analysis is that it is between liberal and radical Marxists, but tribal loyalties seem to be most important,” the official said.

In Bonn, a West German government spokesman Friday night reported the West German Embassy and ambassadorial residence in Aden were severely damaged by shellfire Friday morning. He had no reports of casualties.

Kuwait’s official Kuna news agency said the mediation efforts collapsed after Hasani insisted that the coup leaders leave the country.

Evacuees at Soviet Embassy

An emergency announcement by the British Broadcasting Corp. called on British citizens in Aden to make their way to the northeast corner of the Soviet Embassy compound as soon as safely possible. The Soviet Embassy is reported to be one of the few large complexes in Aden not damaged by the fighting. Evacuees waited there to be shuttled to the beaches.

Those outside the capital were told to await further instructions.

Those evacuated by the Britannia were being taken to the Republic of Djibouti, across the mouth of the entrance to the Red Sea, according to the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office official also indicated the Soviets had requested permission to take their evacuees to Djibouti.

Britain maintained a military presence in Aden for more than a century, finally pulling out in the late 1960s. Aden, strategically located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, has since then been the capital of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, a country now under strong Soviet influence.

However, British Foreign Office officials said reports from the area indicate that the Soviets appear to have had little to do with the present coup attempt.

“The situation is fluid, it is changing every hour,” said the spokesman. “We have no idea who is winning and the Soviets also have no idea what’s happening.”