Page 174 - What Kind of Yemen ?

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Enormous political changes have been taking place in Yemen in
recent years. The latest of these was the Houthi seizure of power. U.N.
Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon referred to these latest developments
by saying, "Yemen is collapsing before our eyes. We can't stand by and
watch." Moon considers that Yemen is on the brink of civil war; Jamal
Benomar, the U.N. Special Adviser on Yemen, also thinks that groups

such as al-Qaeda will grow stronger if the political crisis in the country
continues.
These concerns are certainly not unfounded. The departure of the
ambassadors from the U.S.A., Great Britain, Italy and France in the
wake of the Houthi coup d'état is another sign of this. The Houthis
seized the vehicles of foreign diplomats departing the country. Vehi-
cles belonging to the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a were seized by surround-
ing the embassy. This is not just a simple matter of the capture of some
loot: It is a consequence of the Houthis' approach to the USA and Euro-

pean countries. The Houthis are known to have been unfriendly to the
West for some time. Had U.S. diplomats not abandoned the country in

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