Both al-Qaeda and Saleh Cast Shadows over 'New' Yemen

[ellisonz]

By TOM FINN / SANAA | Time.com – 7 hrs ago

The raging battle between al-Qaeda and government security forces in southern Yemen in recent days is a reminder that the shadow of insurgency looms large over that country's effort to build a new political order. The swearing in of new president Abd Rabbo Monsour Hadi last week was accompanied by a four-day rampage by Islamist insurgents that left at least 150 soldiers dead, and on Saturday a series of air strikes on jihadist positions -- alleged by locals to have been carried out by U.S. drones or warplanes, although local authorities said the Yemeni air force was responsible -- left up to 45 suspected insurgents dead.

"Yemen has turned a new page in its history," read a glossy flyer stuck to a wet paving stone in the capital, Sana'a, last week. Written in neat Arabic prose and overlaid on a solemn-looking mug shot of Yemen's new president, the discarded pamphlet chimed with the optimism swirling around the city. After a year of mass demonstrations against him, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former tank commander turned wily autocrat, had just been eased out of office in an uncontested presidential vote. In his place his former vice president, Hadi, had taken the reins, promising to restructure the army, tackle al-Qaeda and steer the country out of crisis.

It did not take long, however, for reality to bite.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-saleh-cast-long-shadows-over-yemen-061000895.html

[JCMach1]

1. I am afraid Yemen will be the next failed state...

and perhaps the first country to become absolutely unsustainable in terms of resources (water and food).

The water crisis is real and CRITICAL.

[ellisonz]

2. I agree.

It could look like Somalia but worse, and that's saying something. I think with food relief we can prevent mass starvation, but water is a much more complex problem.