At a time when the whole world is going through a terrible health crisis due to the Covid-19 epidemic, from which the Middle East has not escaped, one country in this region accumulates calamities on an unprecedented scale: Yemen. For six long years now, this Arab state has seen its population caught between Saudi bombers supporting forces loyal to the internationally recognised government, the Shiite Houthi rebels increasingly forced to rely on Iran, and the secessionist demands of a south largely infiltrated by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
A particularly weak economic player, the ancient “Arabia Felix” has seen its situation deteriorate dramatically over the years of war, to the point of pushing the NGOs active on its territory to sound the alarm more and more often because of various humanitarian disasters: famine, cholera or diphtheria, to name but a few. This Dantesque fresco is superimposed on a stormy history in which “two Yemens” have most often faced each other as adversaries, on either side of numerous structural fault lines: geographical relief, religious identities, colonial legacy, tribal affiliations, etc.
Moreover, faced with a situation where internal authoritarianism does not augur well, many eyes are turning to the role played by regional (especially Saudi and Iranian) players at the dawn of a new American administration destined to reshuffle once again the cards in this region.
In order to decrypt this multifaceted conflict and try to discern the contours of a possible appeasement, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Laurent Bonnefoy, a CNRS researcher currently attached to the Sultan Qaboos University of the Sultanate of Oman, as well as Dr. Thomas Juneau, associate professor at the University of Ottawa and affiliated researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.
Research line: Middle East and North Africa; Non-Arab Muslim World
©2019 European Union (photographer: Peter Biro)
Online evening conference
Prospects for Peace in War-torn Yemen
Doctor Laurent BONNEFOY
Doctor Thomas JUNEAU
Moderator: Didier LEROY
Language: English
25 February 2021, 17:00 – 18:30
> From 16:00 – Registration –
connection to online conference
> 17:00 – Conference and Q & A
Conference videos:
> Docteur Laurent BONNEFOY
> Docteur Thomas JUNEAU