What's Happening In Yemen? Essay Samples

Yemen has been facing many issues in the recent years. Before I read about Yemen, I believed that the problems of Yemen are the problems of the region. I thought the problem was not that complicated and what was happening in Yemen could not affect the whole region of Middle East. In order to understand why the problems faced by the Yemenis could spread out into the neighboring countries, we need to take a general look into the location of Yemen and the people living in Yemen (Sunni and Shia Muslims). An idea about when and why the war started against the Houthis, who are the Houthis and what are they after and who is backing up the Houthis would greatly help understand the real issue Yemen currently faces.

Overview of Yemen

The location: Traditionally, Yemen is located at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East and Asia for thousands of years. Because of its advantageous position, the country has been known popularly for having the ancient spice routes passing through its landscapes. Also, Yemen was known for housing the famous Biblical Kingdom of Sheba. When we look back into the history of Yemen, it is a well known fertile country forming part of the Arabia Felix, which is in sharp contrast to the relatively barren Arabian Desert spreading toward the north of Yemen.
Yemen is an Arab country situated on the Arabian Peninsula with mostly Muslim population. Its capital city, Sana'a, is one of the oldest and continuously occupied cities in the world. Legend has it that the city was founded by Shem, a son of Noah (popularly known in the Bible for having built the ark). Yemen's population is around 25 million, which is spread out over a land area that is about 30 percent larger than California. Yemen is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east. Sea water forms Yemen's western and southern boundaries. The African nations of Eritrea and Djibouti are located across the Red Sea to the west and southwest respectively of Yemen whereas the African nation, Somalia, is located across the Gulf of Aden to the south of the country.
During the Cold War, Yemen was split into two countries namely north and south Yemen. In the late 1970s, Ali Abdullah Saleh became the ruler of North Yemen, and he continued to rule the united Yemen since its unification in 1990. Yemen is the poorest of the countries in the entire Arab world. In other words, Yemen was established in 1990 when the traditional majority "Hadrami" population of North Yemen and South Yemen came together as one nation after years of clashes. After they merged together, Yemen slowly got modernized and gradually became open to the world while at the same time retaining much of its tribal character.
In 1994, a short civil war started between North and south Yemen. The south "Hadrami" group wanted to separate the South from North Yemen. However, it was a short civil war, which ended up as a defeat for the separatist southerners. But after that, another threat appeared to Yemen from the Northern regions of Yemen. Houthi rebels emerged in the summer of 2009 when the government troops and Houthi rebels from the Shia Zaidi sect clashed in the north, killing hundreds of civilians and displacing more than a quarter of a million people.
In August 11, 2008 a number of foreign tourists in Yemen have been kidnapped several times, and the Houthis were accused of collaborating in the incident. Therefore, the government started the war against the Houthisin during the summer of 2009. The government named this war the “Burnt Land” operation. This war was different from the other one due to the participation of Saudi Arabian Air Force, apart from the involvement of the United States in the second stage.
The war dragged on for almost seven months, before the phase of the war ended in January 2010, subsequent to the support got through the local mediation and secret agreements. The result of the war was really much disastrous, killing hundreds and displacing more than a quarter of a million people from the northern regions of Yemen.
On other hand, the Yemeni government made great efforts to include the Houthi group in the terrorist organizations enlisted by the United States of America.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis are members of a rebel group; they have rapidly morphed into the armed faction of a full-fledged political movement. They are popularly known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), who adhere to a branch of Shia sect of Islam known as Zaidism. Zaidis make up one-third of the population of the country and ruled North Yemen under a system known as the Imamate for almost 1,000 years until 1962.
Many still wonder about the origin of the Houthis and how they occupied Yeman. They are a rebel group, who are mostly located on northern Yemen. The Houthis originally take their name from Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi. Hussein led the Houthi groups to the first Yemeni uprising in 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for Saada province, and also to protect Zaidi religious and cultural traditions from perceived encroachment by the Sunni Islamists.
However, the Yemeni government rejected the movement of Houthi group to win the autonomy of Saada province. Therefore, the war started against Houthis, and Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi was killed by the Yemeni military in late 2004, after which his family took charge and led another five rebellions before a ceasefire was signed with the government in 2010. In 2011, the Houthis joined the protests against then President Ali Abdullah Saleh and took advantage of the power vacuum to expand their territorial control in Saada and the neighboring Amran province.

Arab spring:

The unrest across the whole Arab world hit Yemen too, which the protestors have been holding since the earliest days of the Egyptian revolution. Yemen's citizens were all the more the poorest in the Arab region even though much has been talked about the republic nature of its government. The Yemeni leadership was a nasty dictatorship, employing secret police for perpetrating torture and general repression. What happened in Yemen is totally different from what happened in the entire Arab region. When we compare the protest movement in Yemen with the protest movements in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya that led to some degree of political change in those countries, protests in Yemen only made Saleh to become more violent. Saleh’s violence killed at least 52 protesters. Moreover, the Houthis joined the protests against then President Ali Abdullah Saleh and took advantage of the power vacuum to expand their territorial control in Saada and neighboring Amran province. Even though many Yemenis believe that the real killers of the 52 protesters were the Houthis group, there is no evidence to prove the allegation. However, after the attack, Saleh became even more unpopular at home, and the dictator's thirty plus years of rule started to unravel.
After Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Current President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was elected unopposed in the year 2012. The Houthis participated in a National Dialogue Conference (NDC), which led President Hadi to announce his plans in February 2014 for Yemen to become a federation of six regions. But, this draft constitution infuriated members of the Shiite Houthi movement, which dominates the northwest region of the country because they said its provision for dividing the country into six federal states would lead to unfair control of the national wealth in the southern regions. Therefore, they opposed the plan, and they were of the opinion that dividing the country into six federal states would leave them weakened.
On mid-August 2014, thousands of Houthis supported by both Sunnis and Shia factions taking part in a protest by sitting in front of government buildings in Sanaa and blocking the main road leading to the city's airport. A week later, the crisis deepened when security forces opened fire on Houthi supporters in Sanaa, killing several people and thereby sparking fierce clashes between Houthis and soldiers in the capital.
In the end and with the death toll rising, the government agreed to deal with the Houthis under which the rebels would withdraw from Sanaa in exchange of their main demands being met. Five months later, the rebels were still patrolling the streets of Sanaa. The rebels also moved into central and western parts of the country that are predominantly populated by the Sunni faction thus triggering clashes with jihadist militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
After a while, on January 17, 2015, rebels occupied the government buildings and seized the headquarters of a military division. The Houthis moved and kidnapped Mr. Hadi, the chief of staff and Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak while seizing the presidential palace. Afterwards, they asked Hadi to rewrite the constitution and declared they will lead a two year "transitional period" for the welfare of the country. As mentioned above, The Houthis are a minority Shia from the northern region, and their declaration has not been recognized by the Sunni faction and the southern leaders, which would further threaten Yemen with a descent into chaos. After that, the Houthis seized the presidential palace even as the prime minister and his entire cabinet resigned in January. Thereafter, the Houthis placed President Hadi under house arrest in addition to detaining many other leading figures.
Iran, which is known for popular leadership of the Shia Muslim world, was engaged in its own decades-long strategic rivalry for power and influence in the Middle East, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. The rivalry is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines - Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world trying to stop Iranian strategy known for upholding the interests of the Shia Muslims.
The Houthis’ have received some support during the recent years from Iran. Iranian support to The Houthis is not exactly reassuring, especially to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia fears them as a Shiite movement on its border. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has come forward to send some support to the government of Yemen in order to stop them.
The main reason behind the rulers of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia that makes the kingdom support the Yemen government at this point of time is that, Saudi Arabia shares a porous 1,770 km southern border with Yemen. Saudi intelligence officials still consider Yemen to be the weakest security link in the Gulf and "easy prey for Tehran to penetrate and manipulate its internal affairs anytime". Therefore, the Saudis have been providing significant financial and military support to the central government of Yemen. Saudi Arabia even conducted its own ground and air strikes against the Houthis and AQAP on the Yemeni side of the international border. The Saudis are still reeling from the loss of their longtime ally, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced to step down as Yemen's president in 2011. From the Saudi Arabian perspective, Yemen has been on a downward spiral ever since the resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In my point of view, the main problem is Iran's interference in Yemeni affairs, and as we know Iran is trying to use the formula of religion and sentiments of people to get Political mileage. It is the same old formula Iran earlier applied with Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain. Since the Iranian revolution in the year 1979, the main motto of Iran has been "Death to AmericaDeath to Israel." But, the victims of its non-stop killing strategy are the Sunni faction. The real motto of Iran and its Shia Muslim sects in the Muslim world is "Death for the Sunnis." However, for obvious reasons, they cannot use that motto now, instead, they use the American-Israeli Death motto as a cover or mask to continue their never ending killing of Sunni Muslims.
I feel many of Yemen’s problems are internal. For example, cultivation of qat for chewing, as practiced by many farmers, does not contribute to the food production of Yemen, and Yemen has to depend on other countries for fulfilling its day to day food requirement. As a result, the Yemeni citizens are not satisfied with the government and are either ready to revolt or migrate to other countries. Hence the solution to current problems in Yemen lies in internal economic development and fulfilling the immediate needs of the population. Secondly, solutions to some of the major current problems Yemen faces lie in the past. Unless such problems like drugs and unemployment are not addressed on a sustainable manner, they tend to show up again in the future. Even as most of the Gulf countries have agreed on reopening their job markets, the countries require little unskilled workers because of the nature of industries associated with oil exploration and processing in the region. Hence Yemen needs to explore new employment opportunities.
Construction industry is booming in Yemen. The labor involved in the industry need to be streamlined by assuring jobs to local Yemenis on a regular basis. Besides, laying railway lines throughout the peninsula would result in more employment generation. But sourcing the finance to improve the railway network would be a great challenge to Yemen. Ensuring a steady political scenario would help Yemen invite fund sources from other countries apart from motivating internal funders. Also, the location of Yemen’s main harbor Aden is ideal for sea transit from Asia, Africa and Europe. Yemen has to realize this natural advantage to make most use of it. Yemen also needs to promote high quality education and motivate youngsters to take up technical and professional education that would help the country in technical advancements in the future rather than relying on professionals from outside.

Resources

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