Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations

"This report provides an overview and analysis of U.S.-Yemeni relations amidst evolving political

change in Yemeni leadership, ongoing U.S. counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operatives in Yemen’s hinterlands, and international efforts to bolster the country’s stability despite an array of daunting socio-economic problems. Along with determining how best to counter terrorist threats emanating from Yemen, Congress and U.S. policy makers also may consider the priority level and resources that should be accorded to

attempts to stabilize Yemen and to establish and maintain strong bilateral relations with Yemeni leaders..."

Yemen

Yemen: Country Analysis, 2010
"Yemen is important to the global oil trade because of its location on the Bab al Mandab, one of the world's most strategic shipping lanes, through which an estimated 3.2 million barrels of oil passed daily in 2009. Disruption to shipping in the Bab el-Mandab could prevent tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden from reaching the Suez Canal/Sumed pipeline complex, requiring a costly diversion around the southern tip of Africa to reach western markets. In recent years, this region has seen rising piracy off the northern Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea including the Bab el-Mandab."

The Conflicts in Yemen and U.S. National Security
"Yemen is not currently a failed state, but it is experiencing huge political and economic problems that can have a direct impact on U.S. interests in the region. It has a rapidly expanding population with a resource base that is limited and already leaves much of the current population in poverty. The government obtains around a third of its budget revenue from sales of its limited and declining oil stocks, which most economists state will be exhausted by 2017. Yemen has critical water shortages aggravated by the use of extensive amounts of water and agricultural land for production of the shrub qat, which is chewed for stimulant and other effects but has no nutritional value. All of these problems are especially difficult to address because the central government has only limited capacity to extend its influence into tribal areas beyond the capital and major cities. Adding to these difficulties, Yemen is also facing a variety of interrelated national security problems that have strained the limited resources of the government, military, and security forces. In Sa’ada province in Yemen’s northern mountainous region, there has been an intermittent rebellion by Houthi tribesmen who accuse the government of discrimination and other actions against their Zaydi Shi’ite religious sect. In southern Yemen, a powerful independence movement has developed which is mostly nonviolent but is also deeply angry and increasingly confrontational..."

Country Analysis: Yemen
"Yemen's location on the Bab al Mandab, one of the world's most strategic shipping lanes through which an estimated 3.7 million barrels of oil pass daily, makes Yemen important to the global oil trade. Disruption to shipping in the Bab el-Mandab could prevent tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden from reaching the Suez Canal/Sumed pipeline complex, requiring a costly diversion around the southern tip of Africa to reach western markets..."

Country Profile: Yemen
Produced by the Library of Congress's Federal Research Division, this is a basic country profile of Yemen with historical and current information.