of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP). He was elected Secretary General of the YSP at the first party congress in October 1978. Ideologically, he is considered to have favored the Soviet model of socialist development (as opposed to Maoist alternatives). In October 1979, Ismail secured the 1979 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR. Similar treaties with East Germany and Ethiopia followed in 1981, following Ismail's resignation from office. In 1980 he resigned from all his posts for allegedly health reasons and was succeeded by Ali Nasir Muhammad. However, Ismail was appointed president of the party before he went to Moscow for medical treatment, until 1985, when he returned in the face of a mounting crisis between Muhammad and his opponents in the YSP. In October 1985 he was elected to the YSP Politburo and as a Secretary of the Central Committee, but the crisis had erupted on January 13, 1986, into a violent struggle in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and Ismail's supporters. (See South Yemen Civil War) Fighting lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties, Ali Nasir's ouster, and Ismail's mysterious disappearance. He was allegedly killed when naval forces loyal to Ali Nasir shelled his home in Aden. References External links Russian political detective series (2006) after A.Konstantinov's novel "The Journalist" (1996) with its fictionalized version of the events Anaween Thaqafiya magazine Salah Abdul Fattah interview on 26 September, April 27, 2006 |- Presidents of South Yemen Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council 1939 births 1986 deaths Arab communists Communism in Yemen Communist rulers Yemeni Arab nationalists Yemeni Marxists Yemeni Socialist Party politicians Yemeni socialists People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union South Yemen independence activists