By Mete Erdurcan.
Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi resigned after but two years in office. He had had to deal with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS and the Shia Houthis. After the latter rebel group took the presidential chief of staff captive, and seized control of key government buildings located in the capital of Sana’a, the President and ministers resigned en masse.
This development deeply affects Europe and the USA as the atrocities in Paris were funded by terrorist groups based in Yemen.
The Houthis are a Zaydi Shia armed group from the north of Yemen, and comprise of around 30% of the population. Since the abolition of the Zaydi Imamate they have been sidelined by the central government which has led to an armed struggle of more than a decade. In addition to the conflict with the central government, the Houthis are also at war with the Sunni AQAP.
The nation’s hope for peace was substituted with chaos, as the truce treaty, signed last Wednesday was violated the very next day. The Hadi coalition had agreed to amend the Yemeni constitution to give the tribes associated to the Houthis more influence in return for their retreat from governmental institutions. This seems to have been in vain, and as a consequence thereto the President resigned from office. For the international community it is therefore unclear who wields power in the country after the resignations.
