DUBAI (Reuters) – Ten years ago Yemenis rose up against corruption and economic hardship, and demanded a more accountable and inclusive government. The country fractured politically and is now stuck in a war that has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.
The following is a timeline of Yemen’s slide into conflict.
* 1990. Unification of north and south Yemen to form a single state under President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
* 1994. Civil war in which Saleh prevents south, angered by what it sees as its lower status, from splitting with north.
* 2003-09. Houthi group in north protests marginalisation of the local Zaydi Shi’ite Muslim sect and fights six wars with Saleh’s forces and one with Saudi Arabia.
* 2011. Arab Spring protests undermine Saleh’s rule, lead to splits in the army and allow al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to seize territory in the east.
* 2012. Saleh steps down in a political transition plan backed by Gulf states….
— to www.usnews.com
