Yemen facts and figures

Key events in Yemen, 1962–2011

• • In 1962, Yemen’s northern and southern regions were governed separately. North Yemen was an independent state ruled since the 1930s by a monarchy, while South Yemen was under British colonial administration.
• 1962

  • Yemen remains divided into a northern state ruled by a monarchy and a southern state under British control. In September factions within the armed forces in North Yemen overthrow the monarch, Imam Muḥammad al-Badr, and proclaim the Yemen Arab Republic. Al-Badr evades capture and rallies tribal support, leading to a civil war between republicans and royalists. Egypt and Saudi Arabia intervene in the conflict, on the sides of the republicans and the royalists, respectively.
• 1963

  • In South Yemen a newly formed nationalist group, the National Liberation Front, launches a guerrilla campaign against the British.
• 1967

  • Britain withdraws from South Yemen, transferring sovereignty to the National Liberation Front, which founds the People’s Republic of South Yemen. The Six-Day War forces Egypt to withdraw its forces in North Yemen.
• 1970

  • The royalists and republicans in North Yemen reach a reconciliation agreement, ending the civil war. South Yemen renames itself the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, aligning itself with the Soviet Union and embarking on a program of socialist economic reorganization.
• 1972

  • A brief border war breaks out between North and South Yemen. Following the cease-fire, both sides agree to a plan for political unification. The plan is stalled when relations between the two countries deteriorate in the following year.
• 1978

  • Following the assassination of two presidents of North Yemen in two years, ʿAlī ʿAbd Allāh Ṣāliḥ becomes president of North Yemen.
• 1979

  • Another brief war breaks out between North and South Yemen. Once again, hostilities are ended with a unification agreement that quickly collapses.
• 1990

  • After months of negotiations, the Republic of Yemen is proclaimed on May 22, uniting North and South Yemen. The newly united Yemen suffers international isolation and economic losses when it opposes the use of force to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion that prompted the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). Led by Saudi Arabia, a number of Arab countries cut off aid to Yemen and expel Yemeni workers.
• 1994

  • Civil war breaks out between the Ṣāliḥ regime and a secessionist movement based in the south. The secessionists are defeated, and Ṣāliḥ emerges with greater political and military dominance.
• 2000

  • An attack by al-Qaeda suicide bombers against the USS Cole, a U.S. warship harboured in Aden, kills 17 sailors. The incident leads to greater security cooperation between Yemen and the United States.
• 2004

  • Government forces launch attacks to suppress a rebellion around the northern town of Ṣaʿdah. The rebels, who are led by members of the al-Hūthī family, a Zaydī Shīʿite clan, call for the preservation of Zaydī religious identity and condemn the Ṣāliḥ regime as pro-Western. Sporadic outbreaks of violence between rebels and government forces persist for several years, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the north.
• 2005

  • Ṣāliḥ states that he will not seek another term as president in elections scheduled for 2006.
• 2006

  • Reneging on his earlier pledge not to enter elections in 2006, Ṣāliḥ runs for another seven-year term as president and is reelected.
• 2009

  • Yemeni and Saudi forces launch a major offensive against the al-Hūthī rebels in areas along the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Although the offensive leads to a cease-fire, it fails to decisively defeat the rebellion.
• 2010

  • Ṣaliḥ declares “total war” on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a militant network based in Yemen, after the group is linked to an attempted airline bombing in the United States that took place in late 2009. The Yemeni military launches air strikes and ground assaults in tribal areas of eastern Yemen, where the group is thought to operate.