1. Mediating Transition in Yemen: Achievements and Lessons
- Author:
- Steven A. Zyck
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Yemen remains the only site of an Arab Spring uprising that has ended in a negotiated agreement and a structured, internationally supported transition process. As Jamal Benomar, the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Yemen, stated, “Yemen was definitely heading towards a Syria-type scenario” before international actors, including the United Nations (UN), helped to shepherd a complex transition process, which continues at the time of writing. Benomar, with support from a wide array of stakeholders, helped avert an escalating conflict in Yemen by stepping in to offer the good offices of the UN secretarygeneral without waiting for the UN Security Council or the embattled Yemeni regime to demand UN action. Benomar's interventions— including bringing Yemen's major political parties together amid the uprising—helped ensure that the country did not devolve into civil war when President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after thirty-three years in power. That is, the UN opened a space for dialogue where none had previously been considered possible.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Treaties and Agreements, and Popular Revolt
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Arabia, and Syria