Prosperous and famed in ancient times, Yemen has been an important transit point between Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Spices, textiles and precious metals such as gold and silver have been carried through this vast, fertile but mostly deserted land for more than 1,000 years.
 
With the discovery of oil in the mid-1980s, the prospect of economic development and an easier life for Yemenis may yet transform what is now a poor country.

Geography

Yemen is in the Middle East, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea border its shoreline. It has a land area of 527,970 sq km.

Historical background

Yemen is one of the oldest centres of civilisation.

The Romans called this country Arabia Felix (meaning wealthy and fertile) in contrast to the relatively barren deserts they conquered to the north.

In the seventh century, Muslim caliphs began to exert control.

After the caliphate broke up, the former north Yemen came under the control of imams of various dynasties predominantly of the Shia Zaidi sect.

Egyptian Sunni caliphs occupied much of north Yemen throughout the 11th century. In the 16th century and again in the 19th century, north Yemen was a part of the Ottoman Empire.

Modern political history

In the early 1960s, Yemen, then a British protectorate, was sucked into the greater intrigues of the Cold War. While its southern part came under the influence of communists, the country also became a staging ground for inter-Arab politics. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt interfered directly in its affairs.

By the mid-1960s, the country was effectively split and run by separate political ideologies in the north and south.

The present Republic of Yemen was formed in 1990 after the merger between the tribal dominated north and Marxist-led south, which had been fighting each other for decades in border clashes and skirmishes.

In 1994, a brief civil war erupted when continuing peace and reconciliation talks came to a halt, but it quickly ended when the separatist southerners were defeated.

Since unification, the country has been trying to modernise but it is a long and slow process, mainly due to poverty.

Yemen held its first direct presidential election in September 1999, electing President Ali Abd Allah Salih to a five-year term in what was generally considered a free and fair election.

In 2003 he was re-elected, but this time after having amended the constitution to allow for a longer term of office.

Attacks on US targets

Over the following 15 years, several foreigners have been kidnapped by tribal groups often demanding greater government assistance for food and other amenities, but what has garnered greater international attention has been the attacks on a US warship, the USS Cole, in 2000, and on a French tanker in 2001.

The US embassy has also been targeted by numerous attacks: in 2002 a Yemeni man threw a hand grenade over the wall to protest against a visit to the country by Dick Cheney, the US vice president; in 2003, two people were killed when protests outside the embassy turned violent; a gunman opened fire outside the embassy in 2006, but was captured by security guards; in March 2008, three mortars were launched at the building, but all three missed their intended targets and instead crashed into a girls' school next door killing one and wounding dozens of students.

On September 17, 2008 a car bomb exploded at the gates of the embassy.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, Yemen has been fending off accusations that it is a haven for militants with authorities having declared the arrest of several suspected al-Qaeda members. The US, meanwhile, has provided equipment and anti-terrorism training for the Yemeni security forces.

Official name: Republic of Yemen
Capital: Sanaa
Form of government: Republic
Gained independence: North Yemen gained independence in November 1918 (from the Ottoman empire), while South Yemen attained its independence in November 1967 (from the UK); the two unified on 22 May 1990.

Economy

Since unification, the government has worked to integrate two relatively disparate economic systems. However, severe shocks, including the return in 1990 of approximately 850,000 Yemenis from the Gulf states, a subsequent major reduction of aid flows, and internal political disputes culminating in the 1994 civil war, hampered Yemen's economic growth.

Following minor discoveries of oil and gas deposits in the 1980s and 1990s, Yemen has managed to earn several billion dollars from exports.

Currency: Riyal (YER) - 1 USD = 200 YER (approx)
Natural resources: Oil, fish, rock salt, marble, coal, gold, lead, nickel copper
Major industries: Oil production and refining, cotton textiles, leather goods, food-processing, handicrafts, aluminium products, cement
GDP: $21.6bn (2007 est)
GDP annual growth rate: 3.1% (2007 est)
Per capita GDP: $2,300 (2007 est)
Imports: $6.7bn (2007 est)
Exports: $7.1bn (2007 est)

Military

With Yemen considered an important partner in George Bush's "war on terror", military relations between the two countries have improved. In 2003 the International Military Education and Training assistance programme was set up with Yemen receiving $1.9m in US military assistance.

Military budget: $515m (2002 est)
Army size: 66,500 active troops

Culture

Beyond language, cultural differences abound among the various groups in Yemen. Many of the inhabitants of the famed area of Hadhramaut reflect the cultural heritage of south-east Asia with which the district has had historic commercial ties.

Those Yemenis living in the coastal areas reflect the racial and cultural influences of nearby Africa. The city of Aden - which Great Britain ruled as part of India from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s - still bears traces of the culture of the Indian subcontinent.

Population: 23,013,376 (July 2008 est)
Languages: Arabic (official)
Religions: Islam (official; Sunni 60% and Shia 40%)
Ethnic diversity: mainly Arab; Afro-Arab, South Asian, European
Literacy rate: 50.2% (a gender imbalance means men's literacy rates are higher than those of Yemeni women)
Important media: Al-Thawrah (official daily newspaper), Yemen Times (English weekly newspaper), Yemen Observer (English weekly newspaper), Republic of Yemen Television (state-run, operates two networks), Republic of Yemen Radio (state-run, operates two networks)

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