Yemen has become the focus for "two quite different and fundamentally contradictory phenomena", Sheila Carapico, an American political scientist, told the London conference on Yemen last week. One of them is an uprising for social justice and and the other is "a not-so-covert military...
Blog archive: Yemen
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14th January 2013
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11th January 2013A two-day academic conference on the future of Yemen opened in London on Friday. Organised by the London Middle East Instituteand the British-Yemeni Society, it comes at a timely moment as Yemen prepares for its national dialogue – a key step in the country's political...
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2nd January 2013Killers on motorcycles were responsible for the murders of 40 military and security officers and four civilians in Yemen during 2012, the interior ministry said yesterday. A further 21 military officers and nine civilians were injured in attacks involving motorcycles: "Most of the...
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20th December 2012Ex-president's son Ahmad Ali Saleh. Will he go quietly? Some good news from Yemen, for once. Yesterday, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi – Yemen's "interim" president – issued a series of decrees changing the structure and leadership of the military. The changes, which seem to...
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18th December 2012One of the more intriguing and unexpected consequences of the fall of President Saleh in Yemen is that the national pastime of chewing qat has begun to be seriously challenged. An ambitious plan presented to parliament last week seeks to eradicate qat from Yemen by 2033....
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12th December 2012Ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh continues to haunt the political scene in Yemen, more than nine months after being ousted from office. In the latest confrontation, Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed, is refusing to hand over long-range Scud missiles to the defence ministry, Reuters reports...
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24th November 2012In an effort to "instil discipline in the streets", Yemen's interior ministry has embarked on a controversial – and probably ill-fated – battle against unlicensed motorcycles, threatening to confiscate any that are used illegally. In the first week after the ban was introduced at the beginning of...
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22nd November 2012Anti-qat protest outside Yemen's parliament last weekend In Yemen, old habits die hard and weaning the country off its predilection for chewing qat might appear to be the most hopeless of hopeless causes. For millions of Yemenis, the afternoon qat sessions are a...
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3rd November 2012In a report from Yemen, Leila al-Fuhaidi of AFP highlights an unusual practice that can lead to happily married couples being forced to divorce. The practice – found mainly in rural areas – involves an "exchange" marriage known as sheghar, where two men from different families each...
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9th April 2012Events in Yemen over the last few days provide a sharp reminder that despite the resignation of President Saleh and the installation of President Hadi in a one-candidate "election", the Saleh regime remains largely in place. It won't go without a struggle and is still capable of obstructing the...
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26th January 2012There's a woefully misleading report about Yemen from AFP this morning. It begins: "Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh will stay in the United States beyond the election next month that will choose his successor ..." Let's get this straight once and for all. The so-called...
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1st January 2012With less than two months to go before President Saleh is due to formally leave office, other members of his family are seeking toconsolidate their influence in Yemen. Saleh's son, Ahmed, has been purging the Republican Guard of members suspected of having opposition sympathies, while his...
