Yemen: Fear Knows No Fast

For more than a month Yemenis from both Royalist and Republican factions have been holding "peace talks" at the mountain village of Haradh to end the bloody (10,000 battle deaths) civil war that has plagued the country for three years. They have not been very successful. The conferees, who held their sessions in white tents symbolizing peace, never got past the first point: what to call the transition state that was supposed to exist until a country-wide plebiscite could be held in one year's time. The Republicans insisted that the word Republican must be included in the new state's title. Nothing doing, said the Royalists.

In fact, the only thing the delegates could agree on was a desire to recess the talks until after the month-long Islamic holy fast of Ramadan, which began last week. Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Saudi Arabia's King Feisal, who backed the Republicans and Royalists respectively, appealed to the delegates to continue the talks. But the Yemenis simply began to slip away. With their departure came the fear that the shooting might start again, for both sides have kept forces in a state of combat alert. Egyptians and Saudis immediately began strengthening their joint peace-keeping force in Yemen, and Nasser canceled his plans for a long-postponed troop withdrawal. "Historically, this war has produced its fiercest battles during Ramadan when there is nothing else to do for 30 days but fast and fight," said one Egyptian veteran. "They get hungry and mean on both sides, and it's going to be a hellish job to enforce the ceasefire."