S. Yemen’s New Leaders See Little Hope for Improved U.S. Ties

The new leaders of South Yemen said Friday that the government succeeding deposed President Ali Nasser Hasani will try to improve relations with the West and with neighboring states in the Persian Gulf region while remaining closely allied to the Soviet Union.

In their first interviews with reporters since fierce factional fighting ended a week ago, acting head of state Haider abu Bakr Attas and Salim Saleh Mohammed, secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party, emphasized that South Yemen’s foreign policy will not be radically changed.

“We will respect all the international agreements we have signed,” said Attas, who was prime minister in the old government.

Policy Won’t Change

Mohammed said: “Our foreign policy will remain the same. Not only will we continue these policies but we will try our best to develop relations with Western countries.”

Mohammed is one of the few surviving members of the 11-man Politburo to stay on after nearly two weeks of heavy fighting between rival party and tribal factions in this Marxist state.

The ousted chief of state had begun to steer South Yemen in the direction of better relations with its conservative, anti-communist neighbors and had sought to attract Western investment--a direction in which the new leaders said they want to continue.

But both Attas and Mohammed, who is believed by some observers to be the most influential figure in the collective new leadership, indicated that they do not look for better ties with the United States at this time.

“We welcome good relations with all countries that respect our national sovereignty and don’t interfere in our internal affairs,” Attas said in response to one of several written questions submitted in advance by four Western journalists, including the correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

U.S. Criticized

“However, the United States does not respect our national sovereignty, interferes in our domestic affairs and stands against the interests of the Arab nations and our central just cause, the Palestinian issue.”

South Yemen broke off diplomatic relations with the United States in 1969, two years after winning independence from Britain, and has since become the Soviet Union’s closest ally in the Middle East. Although most Soviet nationals were evacuated along with other foreigners after the fighting erupted Jan. 13, Moscow still maintains a sizable diplomatic and military presence here.

Both officials emphasized that South Yemen’s close ties to the Soviet Union were not shaken by the recent fighting but rather are likely to be strengthened by Aden’s need to depend even more heavily on Moscow due to the huge economic loss caused by the brief war.

‘We Are Friends’

“The Soviet Union extends giant assistance and aid to us in all affairs and fields,” Attas said. “We have close relations with the Soviet Union. We are friends.”

Mohammed denied that the new leadership is composed of “hard-liners bent on exporting revolution,” a description he said was fostered by the deposed Hasani in order to discredit his opponents in the eyes of neighboring Yemen and other conservative gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.

He said the new leadership is committed to pursuing “a policy of good neighborliness” with the other gulf states and closer cooperation “with our brothers in the north of Yemen.”

The interview with Attas was conducted in front of South Yemeni television cameras, and the four Western reporters present were asked not to deviate from the approved list of questions.

An Informal Interview

The interview with Mohammed, conducted overnight at the heavily guarded headquarters of the Yemeni Socialist Party in Aden, was more informal, more wide-ranging and candid. In it, Mohammed made these other points:

--South Yemen urgently needs humanitarian assistance--food, medicines and building materials--to overcome the devastation wrought by the recent fighting and will accept such aid from any country willing to give it, provided no political strings are attached. He said the government has not yet been able to estimate either the human or the material loss but added that it is great. Other South Yemeni sources have estimated the death toll at 10,000 to 13,000.

--The new government wants and expects Western and Eastern European companies working on construction projects in South Yemen to return as soon as possible to complete their contracts.

--The government is still interested in enlisting the participation of Western oil companies in South Yemen’s so-far unsuccessful attempt to find oil. Although he was vague on details, Mohammed said that “nothing has changed in this respect--we still want to exploit our oil wealth.”

Contender for Top Job

Mohammed, 39, is considered by authoritative and independent sources here to be a strong contender for a top leadership position once the composition of the new government is complete. He is a former foreign minister and has been a Central Committee member since 1970. He is from South Yemen’s largest tribal group, the Yafai, and this gives him a strong independent power base, the sources said.

Two other key figures in the fighting with Hasani’s supporters were First Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmed Antar and another former head of state, Abdul-Fattah Ismail, who is regarded as the most ideological of the Hasani’s opponents.

Antar was among those killed when Hasani tried to purge his political rivals at a Politburo meeting Jan. 13--the incident that touched off the fighting that drove him from office and reportedly into exile in Yemen. Ismail reportedly survived the initial assassination attempt but his whereabouts since is a mystery.

Evasive on Key Figure

Mohammed was evasive when asked about Ismail’s fate, suggesting that he may be dead, critically injured or still among the missing. “Now is not the appropriate time to announce his fate, but we hope to announce it later,” Mohammed said.

Along with Antar, Ismail had emerged as a popular symbol of party opposition to Hasani, and observers said the new leadership may be reluctant to announce his fate until it consolidates its position.

Mohammed said the names of those elected to a new ruling Politburo will be announced in a day or two, after which the position of head of state and other major posts “will be finalized.”

Mohammed insisted that the new leadership will continue to be collective and that no one person will be allowed to abuse power as Hasani did.

“We have now learned our lesson not to centralize power in the hands of one individual,” Mohammed said. “In the Third World, power in the hands of one individual is a catastrophe.”