Yemen’s Future Looks Grim After Saleh Killing

Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed in a roadside gunfight while attempting to flee the capital Sanaa on the 4 December 2017.

In this commentary feature the author who was the Senior Consulting Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House wrote that the former president was a divisive figure, but he was also the person most likely to be able to broker some kind of settlement of the crisis in Yemen.

He had just negotiated a deal with Saudi Arabia and had turned against his earlier Iranian-backed Houthis allies.

All this against the backdrop of a major humanitarian disaster in Yemen.

• Primary Source

Reuters, 08.12.17: The last hours of Yemen's Saleh https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-saleh-insight/the-last-hours-of-yemens-saleh-idUSKBN1E20YY

The Conversation, 07.12.17: Ignoble end for Yemeni strong man Ali Abdullah Saleh who left a country in tatters https://theconversation.com/ignoble-end-for-yemeni-strong-man-ali-abdullah-saleh-who-left-a-country-in-tatters-88716

The Guardian, 04.12.17: Killing of Ali Abdullah Saleh changes dynamics of Yemen's civil war https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/05/ali-abdullah-saleh-killing-changes-dynamics-yemen-civil-war

UK: Parliament: House of Commons: Library: Briefing Paper, No.8201 (12.01.18): Yemen and the death of Saleh http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8201/CBP-8201.pdf

ECFR: Commentary, 05.12.17: Saleh’s dramatic death returns Yemen to the spotlight http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_salehs_dramatic_death_returns_yemen_to_the_spotlight

ECFR: Report, 2017: Mapping the Yemen conflict (et al) http://www.europeansources.info/record/mapping-the-yemen-conflict-yemen-is-fast-becoming-a-global-not-regional-problem/

EU: EEAS: Yemen and the EU https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/1877/yemen-and-eu_en

Al Jazeera, 08.12.17: Yemen: The North-South Divide http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2017/11/yemen-north-south-divide-171129152948234.html

ECFR: Commentary, 11.04.18: The Importance of Being Envoy: Advice to the new UN Representative to Yemen http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_advice_to_the_new_un_representativ_martin_griffiths

International Crisis Group: Op-Ed, 08.06.18: It’s Time for the European Union to Push Yemen Towards Peace https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/yemen/its-time-european-union-push-yemen-towards-peace

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