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Committe: NATO Topic: Yemen's Crisis
Committe: NATO Topic: Yemen's Crisis
Presidents Letter:
Delegations
Members:
1. Belgium
2. Canada
3. Croatia
4. Czech Republic
5. Denmark
6. EE.UU
7. France
8. Germany
9. Greece
10. Italy
11. Netherlands
12. Polony
13. Portugal
14. Spain
15. Turkey
16. United Kingdom
Invited:
17. Iran
18. Russia
19. Saudi Arabia
20. Yemen
Records
In January 2011, shortly after the popular ouster of the Tunisian government, major
street protests materialized in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, to demand governmental
changes. Protests spread to the traditionally restive south, with particularly aggressive
protests in cities like Aden and Ta'izz. Initially, demonstrators protested against a plan to
amend the constitution and over the country's sluggish economy and high jobless
rates.However, protests grew larger by late January and took on an increasingly pointed
tone of criticism toward President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with many demonstrators beginning
to call openly for new leadership in Yemen. Including at least 10,000 at Sana'a University.
By February, opposition leader Tawakel Karman called for a "Day of Rage" in the
mold of mass nationwide demonstrations that helped to topple the government of Tunisia
and put pressure on the government of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The protest
drew more than 20,000 participants, as well as a show of force from Saleh's supporters.
Security forces responded to protests in Aden with live ammunition and tear gas. After
Mubarak quit power in Egypt, demonstrators celebrating the revolution and calling for a
similar uprising in Yemen were attacked by police and pro-Saleh tribesmen. Clerics called
for a national unity government and elections to be held in six months in an effort to quell
Actual Situation
Yemen is in the grip of its most severe crisis in years, as competing forces fight for
control of the country. Impoverished but strategically important, the tussle for power in
Yemen has serious implications for the region and the security of the West.
Here are some key questions explained.
Who is fighting whom?
In recent months Yemen has descended into conflicts between several different
groups, pushing the country "to the edge of civil war", according to the UN's special
adviser. The main fight is between forces loyal to the beleaguered President, Abdrabbuh
Mansour Hadi, and those allied to Zaidi Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced Mr
Hadi to flee the capital Sanaa in February.
Who's in charge in Yemen?
Yemen's security forces have split loyalties, with some units backing Mr Hadi, and
others the Houthis and Mr Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has remained
politically influential. Mr Hadi is also supported in the predominantly
Sunni south of the country by militia known as Popular Resistance Committees
and local tribesmen.
Both President Hadi and the Houthis are opposed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged numerous deadly attacks from its strongholds in the
south and south-east.
The picture is further complicated by the emergence in late 2014 of a Yemen
affiliate of the jihadist group Islamic State, which seeks to eclipse AQAP and claims it
carried out a series of suicide bombings in Sanaa in March 2015. After rebel forces closed
in on the president's southern stronghold of Aden in late March, a coalition led by Saudi
Arabia responded to a request by Mr Hadi to intervene and launched air strikes on Houthi