Yemen
Yemen (/ˈjɛmən/ (About this soundlisten); Arabic:
اَلْيَمَنُ, romanized: al-Yaman), officially the Republic
of Yemen (Arabic: اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْيَمَنِيَّةُ,
romanized: al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah, literally "Yemeni
Republic"), is a country at the southern end of the Arabian
Peninsula in Western Asia. It is the second-largest Arab
sovereign state in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 square
kilometres (203,850 square miles). The coastline stretches
for about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles).[8] It is bordered
by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the
Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel to the south, and Oman to
the east. Yemen's territory encompasses more than 200
islands, including the Socotra islands in the Guardafui
Channel. Yemen is characterized as a failed state[9] with
high necessity of transformation.[10] Yemen's
constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, but
the city has been under Houthi rebel control since February
2015.
In ancient times, Yemen was the home of the
Sabaeans,[11][12][13] a trading state that included parts of
modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 CE, the region came
under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite
Kingdom.[14] Christianity arrived in the fourth century.
Islam spread quickly in the seventh century and Yemenite
troops were crucial in the early Islamic conquests.[15] The
administration of Yemen has long been notoriously
difficult.[16] Several dynasties emerged from the ninth to
16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and
most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman
and British empires in the early twentieth century. The
Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after
World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen
Arab Republic in 1962. South Yemen remained a British
protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when
it became an independent state and later, a Marxist-Leninist
state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern
Republic of Yemen (al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah) in 1990.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh was the first president of the
new republic until his resignation in 2012 in the wake of
the Arab Spring. His rule has been described as a
kleptocracy.[17][18]
Since 2011, Yemen has been in a state of political crisis
starting with street protests against poverty, unemployment,
corruption, and president Saleh's plan to amend Yemen's
constitution and eliminate the presidential term limit, in
effect making him president for life.[19] President Saleh
stepped down and the powers of the presidency were
transferred to Vice President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who was
formally elected president on 21 February 2012 in a
one-candidate election. Since then, the country has been in
a state in a civil war (alongside the Saudi Arabian-led
military intervention aimed at restoring Hadi's government.)
with several proto-state entities claiming to govern Yemen:
the Cabinet of Yemen, Supreme Political Council and the
Southern Transitional Council. [20][21][22][23][24] At least
56,000 civilians and combatants have been killed in armed
violence in Yemen since January 2016.[25] The war has
resulted in a famine affecting 17 million people.[26] The
lack of safe drinking water, caused by depleted aquifers and
the destruction of the country's water infrastructure, has
also caused the largest, fastest-spreading cholera outbreak
in modern history, with the number of suspected cases
exceeding 994,751.[27][28] Over 2,226 people have died since
the outbreak began to spread rapidly at the end of April
2017.[28][29] The ongoing humanitarian crisis and conflict
has received widespread criticism for having a dramatic
worsening effect on Yemen's humanitarian situation, that
some say has reached the level of a "humanitarian
disaster"[30] and some have even labelled it as a
genocide.[31][32][33] It has worsened the country's
already-poor human rights record which was already
characterized by rampant torture, extrajudicial killings,
and limited civil liberties.
Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the
world[34] and in 2019 the United Nations reported that Yemen
is the country with the most people in need of humanitarian
aid, about 24 million people out of a total of 28.5 million
(2019 pop. est), or 85% of its population.[35] It is a
member of the Arab League, United Nations, Non-Aligned
Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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