Word: badr
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...absolute rule thought they saw their chance. No sooner was the Imam gone than his troops mutinied, his courtiers began to intrigue, and tribal chieftains began to fight out their ancient grudges against each other. Swayed by Egyptian advice, the Imam's bumbling caretaker son. Crown Prince Badr, unsuccessfully tried to buy off the dissidents by promising "reforms"-the appointment of a representative council, more army pay and promotions...
Responding to these familiar tones, tribal chieftains and courtiers came flocking to Hodeida to make their obeisance. The inept Prince Badr was let off with nothing worse than a rebuke for his lack of toughness, but the Yemeni radio stopped broadcasting army officers' speeches, and not a word more was heard about any reforms. And last week came reports that, true to his promise, the Imam had ordered the decapitation of one of his subjects and the amputation of the left hand and right foot of 15 others, in punishment for the murder of a high official last June...
Yemen. Temporarily in charge of the reform-minded Prince Badr (TIME, June 29) while his father, the gory Imam, is off in Rome. Chances are that when papa returns shortly, things will go from Badr to worse...
...Recognizing that he may not be his father's child of terror, and responding to genuine pressure from the Yemeni population for an end to feudal tyranny, Prince Badr at once set about winning the Imamate in an unheard-of way: enlisting popular support. He began unprecedented weekly talks to the worshipers in Taiz's ancient Muzaffariya mosque, paid a surprise visit to an army barracks and ordered a 25% pay raise and free medical care for all soldiers. But before Badr could say "Reform," disgruntled troops mutinied in Sana, declaring that the local governor had pocketed...
Hopeful that this flex of sinews would be enough, Badr invited Yemen's more than 50,000 "expatriate brothers" scattered across the Middle East to come home and "participate by using their capital where it is needed." He also appointed an eight-man representative council of regional leaders to advise him. But Yemen's troubles had just begun...