Yemen Seeks Transition Help, Fractures Persist

Photo Credit: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images

The UN Security Council proposed a resolution Monday that would impose non-military sanctions against those trying to undermine the country’s national unity government, potentially strengthening its transition to democracy. UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, told the council last week that the country’s transition continues “against a backdrop of serious security concerns, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and many unresolved conflicts.” In efforts to support Yemen’s transition amid these tensions, the draft resolution, obtained by the Associated Press, calls for “the cessation of all actions aimed at undermining the government of national unity and the political transition.”

Meanwhile, a seperatist movement is gaining traction in the southern city of Aden, where opinion is divided between those who support a united Yemen, and groups that are actively mobilising  to break away from the north. New governor of Aden, Waheed Rasheed, believes that stability in the south, where many have called for independence since Yemen’s formation in 1990, will only succeed with economic development and the empowerment of local authorities. This comes amid continued challenges from other groups including the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia ethnic group in Yemen’s North, who recently agreed to participate in talks aimed at resolving the country’s multiple political conflicts.