THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

By: Jon Stenz and Kaitlyn Cochran

• Capital: Sana’a • Predominately Islamic Country

– 55 % Sunni 45% Shiite • Part of the Arab League • Language: Arabic• North and South Yemen unified in 1990 to form republic • Relies on domestic oil, however oil is expected to be depleted by

2017• Desert terrain = Infertile land • Terrorist activity ties to Al-Qaeda

Yemen Background

US-YEMEN RELATIONS

• Attack on US Embassy in 2008• US embassy closure in 2010 due to threats from Al-Qaeda • Demonstrations against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in early 2011 led him to step down in November 2011 through a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-brokered initiative• Since Yemen Transition in 2011, US aid to Yemen has totaled $600 million• US supports Yemen to promote the political, economic, and security sector reforms underpinning the country’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)• Other issues still make it hard for US to fully cooperate with the Yemen government • Saudi Relations, Terrorism, and Drone Strikes

RECENT ACTIVITY• This week:

•Clashes between Shia Houthi fighters and Sunni Salafis in northern Yemen have killed more than 120 people

• Six suspected al-Qaeda militants and three soldiers have been killed in clashes in eastern Yemen

•Ban on motorbikes to limit drive-by shootings

•Street artists and poets create campaign to protest against drone strikes

RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA• Border Disputes•Wall constructed•Undermines Yemen economy•200,000 Yemeni expatriate workers have returned from Saudi Arabia since June

• Against Yemen Unity (Unified in 1990)• View as threat to Saudi influence in the middle east• Could create tensions with the United States relations in the middle east

AQAP and Yemen

• The AQAP is a branch of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

• The terrorist movement was led into Yemen from outside by Anwar al-Awlaki the leader of the AQAP

• He is also thought to have lead some attacks against the U.S.

• One of the most known connections is that to Nidal Hasan also known as “The Fort Hood shooter”

Yemen Connection to the Fort Hood shooting

• In 2009 Major Nidal Hassan opened fire inside of Fort Hood, his place of work killing 13 people and wounding 32 others

• On further investigation it was found that from December 2008- June 2009 it was shown that Hassan had exchanged over 18 emails with al-Awlaki

• Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike by the U.S. in 2011

• “On August 6, 2013, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks.”

• “In September 2012, a mob attacked the U.S. Embassy compound. Demonstrations continue to take place in various parts of the country and may quickly escalate and turn violent.”

• “An ongoing risk of kidnapping exists throughout Yemen. In the last year, international and local media have reported several kidnappings of Westerners. Violent crime is also a growing problem; local media reported the murder of two U.S. citizens in Taiz and Aden in 2013.”

• “Piracy in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean is a security threat to maritime activities in the region”

• Nasir al Wahayshi, Bin Laden’s former secretary, leads the AQAP movement in Yemen

• He began it after he escaped from prison into Yemen

• He created a system that could stand losing key members

• He has since planned attacks against Saudi and U.S. targets Most notably he snuck a bomb onto a U.S. bound airliner on Christmas day 2009

Aka the underwear bombing

• Drone attacks have been ongoing in Yemen since 2002

• Yemen is the eighth highest recipient of drone attacks

• There have been 61 strikes since the start

• The strikes have killed 309 terrorists and 82 civilians according to the Long War journal

• In 2011 a drone attack targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki who has links to the “2009 Detroit airline bomb plot, a plot to send bombs disguised as printer cartridges via cargo plane into the U.S., and the 2009 Fort Hood shootings where a Muslim Army psychologist killed 13 and wounded 29, as well as the failed 2010 Times Square bomb plot.”

• There have been many demonstrations in Yemen over the drone attacks

• Some believe that such attacks make more enemies than it takes out and that by killing civilians it breaks international law

• The weak Yemeni government thus far has tolerated attacks within its boarders

• http://www.policymic.com/articles/23708/guess-which-8-countries-the-u-s-is-waging-secret-drone-campaigns-against

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24618701

• http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/21/rights-groups-sayobamasdroneprogramviolatesinternationallaw.html

• http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/7/30/us-drone-kills-alqaedasuspectsinyemen.html

• http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_6046.html

QUESTIONS?