Yemen has been evaluated by some authorities as a failing state, on its way to following the footsteps of dismally-governed Somalia that has become a failed state. Yemen is currently wracked by the al-Qaeda threat. There is also a war in the northern part of the country with Shi’ite rebels. In the south, a separatist unrest adds to the turmoil.

Voice of America News reports that the United States has admitted that Yemen’s internal security problems are a direct threat to global security. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says such problems pose danger to regional and global stability. The turmoil that besieges the country and al-Qaeda’s presence while using it as a base for terrorist attacks have global implications, according to Clinton.

As learned from recent news, the embassies in Yemen of the US, Britain, and France have shut down ‘due to threats by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.’ However, CNN reports that the US embassy in Yemen will reopen on Tuesday, as announced by a senior US state official.

Yemen has been figuring as a fertile ground for terror groups. The Nigerian national who botched a chemical bomb detonation aboard a passenger plane over Detroit on Christmas Day is said to have gotten training in a camp in Yemen.

Yemen has all the indications of being a conducive environment for terror groups. According to Fawaz Gerges, professor of Mideast politics at the London School of Economics, “Yemen is a failing state. It’s not yet a failed state. You have a collapsed economy. You have multiple political, ideological and tribal fault lines that are pushing the country to all-out war.”

Image: Jialiang Gao
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