Yemen: back to the brink

After uprisings against the long rule of Ali Saleh in 2011, the Gulf Cooperation Council led by Saudi Arabia brokered a transition agreement to replace Saleh with his deputy and initiate a national dialogue and draw up a new constitution.

That process was thrown into doubt when Zaidi Shiite rebels from the north of the country seized large areas of territory from the government’s tenuous control. In September 2014 the rebels took the capital and in January 2015 the President and the Prime Minister resigned.

In February 2015 British diplomatic staff were withdrawn from Yemen as the security situation deteriorated.