20 Buqshah

The Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed in September 1962 following a military coup that overthrew the Mutawakkilite Kingdom, and these early republican issues were struck while a civil war was actively being fought — Egyptian forces supporting the new republic against royalist forces backed by Saudi Arabia. Coinage was as much a political declaration as a practical necessity, establishing the republic's legitimacy on metal before the conflict was resolved. The war dragged on until 1970.