Before 1990, there were two Yemens: the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen), which became independent with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), which was a British protectorate until 1967. After 20 years of war, the two countries merged. President Ali Abdallah Saleh, who had been president of North Yemen, has led the Republic of Yemen since the 1990 unification. Yemen has been relatively stable since a nine-week civil war in 1994. In the country’s first direct election, Saleh won 96 percent of the vote — after the main opposition party was not allowed to run a candidate. But the country has changed up substantially since then; President Saleh has pardoned the 1994 secessionist leaders, and the press — previously closely controlled or monitored by the government — has taken advantage of new freedoms. Saleh has extolled the virtues of democracy in public speeches, and he appears to mean what he says.