The poorest nation in the Arab world struggles with high population growth, 40% unemployment and a persistent flow of refugees from Somalia. In the next decade, its 22 million citizens will compete for increasingly scarce water supplies, as aquifers are drilled, pumped and drained unsustainably.
Yemen: Peace breaks out in Saada
Published August 8, 2008
President Ali Abdullah Saleh's July declaration that the four-year, stop-go guerrilla war in the northern province of Saada was "over" took everyone in Yemen by surprise.
Now, rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has agreed to come down from the mountain.
In a letter publicised by Yemen's state-run media today, al-Houthi accepted Saleh's peace terms. The rebels will surrender their strategic mountaintop positions and hand over their heavy and medium weapons to the authorities.
The road from Sana'a to Saada opened a few weeks ago, and NGOs have sent teams to assess, feed and treat an estimated 100,000 internally displaced people. But the International Committee of the Red Cross is warning that aid workers are struggling to operate outside the provincial capital, Saada city.
Journalists have been barred from Saada throughout the conflict.
Project
A new Chatham House briefing paper co-authored by Ginny Hill examines the relationships between Yemen and its Gulf neighbors as political change sweeps the region.
Ginny Hill is a British freelance journalist, writing and broadcasting on Yemen. She has reported for the BBC and NPR.
Gateways
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Ginny Hill is a British freelance journalist, writing and broadcasting on Yemen.
She has reported for the BBC and NPR. Her articles have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the Independent,...
