The United Arab States (UAS, Arabic: اتحاد الدول العربية) was a short-lived confederation of the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (North Yemen) from 1958 to 1961.
United Arab States اتحاد الدول العربية Ātḥād Āldwl Ālʿrbyāh | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958–1961 | |||||||||||||||
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| Capital | Cairo, Sana'a | ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Arabic | ||||||||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Arab Cold War | ||||||||||||||
• Established | 8 March 1958 | ||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 26 December 1961 | ||||||||||||||
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The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state formed by the union of Egypt and Syria in 1958. The same year, the Kingdom of Yemen (North Yemen), which had already signed a defense pact with Egypt, joined with the new state on March 8, 1958, in a loose confederation called the United Arab States. One reason for this decision was that, for a long time, Yemen had felt threatened by its considerably larger and more powerful northern neighbour, Saudi Arabia,[a] and thus saw the confederation as a source of security.[1] However, unlike the member countries of the United Arab Republic, North Yemen remained an independent sovereign state. It maintained its UN membership and separate embassies throughout the whole period of confederation.
Neither the union nor the confederation fulfilled their role as vehicles of pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism, as they were dissolved in 1961.
See also
edit- Arab Federation, a confederation between Iraq and Jordan (1958)
- United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria (1958–1961)
- Federation of Arab Republics, a confederation of Egypt, Libya and Syria (1972–1977)
- Union of Arab Republics, a proposed union of Egypt, Iraq and Syria (1972)
- Arab Islamic Republic, a proposed union of Libya and Tunisia (1974)
Notes
edit- ^ The two had fought a war in 1934, and still shared a partially undemarcated border
References
edit- ^ Ghanem, Isam (1981). Yemen: Political History, Social Structure and Legal System. Arthur Probsthain. p. 8. ISBN 978-0853820185.
External links
edit- The Charter of the United Arab States. in Basic Documents of the Arab Unifications. p. 21.
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