What about Yemen?

[Mr. Morden]

Truly the forgotten son of the Arab Spring.  At least Tunisia occasionally gets "the one bright spot in the Arab Spring" stories about it.  What about Yemen?  Virtually no western media coverage of it since Saleh stepped down?  What's going on there?  And what happened to AQAP?  Wikipedia even seems to be confused, describing elections that are "planned to be held" in February 2014:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_parliamentary_election,_2014

[Simfan34]

Elections postponed for five years?!

[Nhoj]

This is what I have been able to find http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/violence-yemen-national-dialogue-muslimi.html#
Seems violence and political fighting probably made elections impossible to hold.

[swl]

The main conflict in Yemen is between the current government and a Shia movement (Houthis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthis, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/yemen-houthis-hadi-protests-201482132719818986.html). They are running a partly peaceful partly military rebellion against the government, and recently managed to take it to Sanaa.

AQAP is still there but there is nothing really new, they are just doing normal Al-Qaeda stuff.

There is not much attention to Yemen from Western medias, but if you search Yemen on Al Jazeera you have frequent news: http://www.aljazeera.com/Services/Search/?q=yemen.

[Indy Texas]

I heard there was a push in some parts of the country to secede and have an arrangement similar to North/South Yemen in the 20th century.

[Mr. Morden]

The main conflict in Yemen is between the current government and a Shia movement (Houthis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthis, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/yemen-houthis-hadi-protests-201482132719818986.html). They are running a partly peaceful partly military rebellion against the government, and recently managed to take it to Sanaa.

OK, but that's been going on forever, hasn't it?  Has it gotten any better or worse since the Arab Spring?

And I guess they've delayed elections until next year because of security concerns, from the sound of it?  But is the consensus that they will ultimately hold elections that will be more or less free and fair, or is the current regime seen as trying to hold onto power forever?

I never quite understood how the standoff with Saleh ended.  He was essentially the dictatorial ruler of the country, but when he handed power over to his vice president, everybody seemed happy to trust that the new guy could manage the transition to democracy. 

[All Along The Watchtower]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Yemen one of the poorest and most underdeveloped Middle Eastern countries? Perhaps that is part of why it is overlooked.

[Hamster]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Yemen one of the poorest and most underdeveloped Middle Eastern countries? Perhaps that is part of why it is overlooked.

Yes. Extremely poor, notable for exasperating its already dire water situation by growing Qhat (spelling), a popular narcotic which is extremely water intensive to grow. Also notable for being the base for Islamic terrorist operations in the region for quite a while.

I've heard that AQAP has publicly stated they have some sort of alliance with Baghdadi's Islamic State. "Core Al-Qaeda," huddling in their caves in Pakistan, seem to have lost their relevance. Two of the "Boko Haram" groups, have also declared alliances with the Islamic State, one going so far as to swear allegiance to the caliphate.

[swl]

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/houthi-protest-yemen-turns-deadly-2014999752608329.html