THIMUN

Country: Yemen

Flag meaning: The flag of Yemen was adopted in 1990 when North Yemen and South Yemen united. The flag consists of three equal sized horizontal stripes- the top being red, middle being white and the bottom one being black. The meaning behind the colors of the flag is historically linked to the Arab people and the Islamic faith for centuries. The Red stripe represents the bloodshed required for the freedom. The White stripe represents hope and the Black stripe represents the end to the country’s dark past.

Leader: Abd Rubbuh Mansur Hadi is the President of Yemen who is a Yemeni major general and politician and became the president in February 2012. Previously, he was the Vice President form 1994-2012.

Politics in Yemen: presidential representative democratic republic, where the President of Yemen is the head of state, while the Prime Minister of Yemen (who is appointed by the President) is the head of government. Although it is notionally a multi-party system, in reality it is completely dominated by one party, the General People's Congress, and has been since unification. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Judiciary is theoretically independent but in reality it is prone to interference from the executive branch.Yemen was ruled by Imams for hundreds of years. The imams of Yemen and later the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and secular rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Following the Yemen suffers from a highly fractured political landscape, which is the legacy of the regime of President Ali Abd Allah Saleh, who came to power in 1978 and formally resigned his office in February 2012.Unification: The Republic of Yemen (ROY) was declared on 22 May 1990 with Saleh becoming President and al-Baidh Vice President. For the first time in centuries, much of Greater Yemen was politically united. A 30-month transitional period for completing the unification of the two political and economic systems was set. A presidential council was jointly elected by the 26-member YAR advisory council and the 17-member PDRY presidium. The presidential council appointed a Prime Minister, who formed a Cabinet. There was also a 301-seat provisional unified parliament, consisting of 159 members from the north, 111 members from the south, and 31 independent members appointed by the chairman of the council.Uprising: The 2011 Yemeni protests followed the initial stages of the Arab Spring and began simultaneously with the Egyptian Revolution. The protests were initially against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the government's proposals to modify the constitution of Yemen. The protestors' demands then escalated to calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to

resign.

The situation however quickly deteriorated into a widescale uprising, with various insurgency campaigns consolidating into an armed tribal struggles, both between the armed opposition and terror groups vs. the government and among themselves. Eventually Saudi-brokered agreement on Saleh's resignation and 2012 Presidential election saw the installation of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi as an interim President. Hadi has been presiding over political reform and national reconciliation and was supposed to serve only two years in the post. On November 2013 U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar told The Associated Press Hadi will remain president after February 2014 because the transition is not likely to be completed earlier due to "obstruction" from former regime loyalists.

GDP per capita 1,473.10 USD (2013)

Population 24.41 million (2013)

Houthi urgency: In northern Yemen, where a large Shi’a Zaydi population lives, Saleh's regime has for decades alienated this community through discriminatory religious and political policies. Saleh, with the help of some elements in Saudi Arabia, had promoted strongly anti-Zaydi groups of Salafi Muslims in this region. Feeling beleaguered and marginalized, the Zaydis organized themselves politically in the early 2000s under the aegis of a family of religious scholars called the Houthis. They began by criticizing Saleh’s pro-U.S. policies, which led to armed confrontation and a series of wars with the Yemeni army. This ultimately dragged the Saudi Arabian military into the fray, leading to considerable property destruction and a large refugee problem. In 2011, as Saleh's power waned in the provinces as a result of the uprising against him, the Houthis took control over large areas of the north, but still remain outside the political framework of government.

GDP: 35.95 billion USD (2013)