A variety of factors led to the unification of Yemen in 1990. Ali Abdullah Saleh had stabilized his authority over North Yemen at the same time that South Yemen, having lost aid from a collapsing Soviet Union, was in economic and political turmoil. Meanwhile, South Yemen offered advantages to Saleh, including better-organized state institutions and armed forces. Additionally, a contingent of South Yemeni leaders had fled to North Yemen in 1986, opening a connection between the two governments. The discovery of oil and natural gas along the border was also an incentive for both countries to unify for more cooperative and efficient exploitation of those resources.
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