Page 164 - What Kind of Yemen ?

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Following a university graduate's working as a street trader burn-
ing himself to death because of unemployment and economic difficul-

ties, street protests broke out in Tunisia and in no time spread to other
Arab countries. This led to the fall of oppressive and authoritarian
regimes, and the whole region entered a period of transition. Major
conflicts broke out in some countries, while others made progress,
albeit slow, on the road to democracy. Yemen is the country that has
hung furthest behind in the process, now in its fifth year. Ali Abdullah
Saleh, who had ruled the country for 33 years, was overthrown, but

there was not the slightest change in the severity of the domestic con-
flicts and instability in the country. The country, once one of peace and
happiness, continues to struggle to survive in a state of poverty, divi-
sion and fragmentation after the revolution just as it did before it.
Yemen occupies a special place in the Arab regions in several
regards. Above all, the country is of enormous geostrategic impor-
tance. The country lies to the east of the Horn of Africa, which includes
Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti, on one of the world's busiest

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