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The challenges facing Yemen

Posted Wednesday 1 December, 17:28 Bahrain time

 

Prospects for Yemen
By Emile Hokayem, Senior Fellow for Regional Security, IISS-Middle East

For a long time, Yemen, which sits at the geographical periphery of the Arabian Peninsula, was considered a political outlier by its Arab Gulf neighbours.  Its main features - the size of the population, its scarce energy wealth, its political system, its strategic orientation and the fabric of Yemeni society - differ strongly from the characteristics of the smaller and younger Gulf states. That divide and the mere distance between the booming Arab shore of the Persian Gulf and the increasingly destitute Yemen have generated regional neglect in Yemen’s more dire moments.

Left alone to face its challenges, from environmental degradation to the expulsion of Yemeni workers from other Gulf states after Yemen supported Saddam Hussein during the 1990-91 Gulf War, Yemen has more than underperformed in the past two decades. It now faces the Houthi rebellion in the North and a resurgence of secessionist sentiments in the South and, after years of complacency, an intensification of Al-Qaeda activities in the country. The international community only took notice of this deteriorating situation when Yemen became a launching pad for terrorist attacks in the West.

When regional actors have tried to insert themselves in Yemen’s woes, it has further complicated the situation. In November 2009, Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign inside Yemeni territory to counter the Houthi insurgency that had started to reach Saudi territory. The ensuing fighting has devastated large parts of the North and led to serious loss of human life. The current ceasefire is at best fragile and did nothing to address the grievances that prompted the Houthi uprising. The same holds for the Southern secessionist movement.

Despite numerous public commitments, the regional response in terms of facilitating political reconciliation, encouraging better governance on the part of the central government and providing development assistance that could jumpstart Yemen’s ailing economy has been lacklustre.

The IISS Manama Dialogue has over the years given Yemen a prominent place on the agenda and this year too, the foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi will address the audience and will certainly make a plea for continued attention and commitment to his country’s challenges. The question is whether the participants from the region can agree on a common approach that puts governance and political reconciliation at the heart of their efforts.


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Emile Hokayem

Emile Hokayem, Senior Fellow for Regional Security, IISS-Middle East

Emile Hokayem is Senior Fellow for Regional Security at the IISS–Middle East office.  He is an expert in Iran-Gulf strategic, political and economic relations, Levant security and the role of external actors in the Middle East. Emile came to the IISS from the Abu-Dhabi based The National newspaper, where he was Political Editor and International Affairs Columnist.  He has testified in front of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Syria and Lebanon and spoken on Gulf affairs in front of various government and non-government audiences.

 

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