minent are: General People's Congress or GPC [President
Ali Abdallah SALIH]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah [Shaykh
Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party
[Dr. Qassim SALAAM]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdel Malik
al-MAKHLAFI]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL]
note: President SALIH's General People's Congress or GPC won a
landslide victory in the April 1997 legislative election and no
longer governs in coalition with Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn
al-AHMAR's Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah - the two parties had
been in coalition since the end of the civil war in 1994; the YSP, a
loyal opposition party, represents the remnants of the former South
Yemeni leadership; leaders of the 1994 secessionist movement have
been pardoned by President SALIH and some are now returning to Yemen
from exile

Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA

International organization participation:
AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory),
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer),
OIC, ONUB, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOCI, UPU, WCO,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahhab Abdallah al-HAJRI
FAX: [1] (202) 337-2017
telephone: [1] (202) 965-4760
chancery: Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas C. KRAJESKI
embassy: Saawan Street, Sanaa
mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa
telephone: [967] (1) 303-151 through 159
FAX: [967] (1) 303-160/161/162/164/165

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black;
similar to the flag of Syria, which has two green stars and of Iraq
which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a
horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag
of Egypt, which has a heraldic eagle centered in the white band

Economy Yemen

Economy - overview:
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, reported
strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil production. It
has been harmed by periodic declines in oil prices, but now benefits
from current high prices. Yemen has embarked on an IMF-supported
structural adjustment progr