THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN PEACEMAKING IN YEMEN

Abstract

The United Nations has intervened in Yemeni affairs since the beginning of the crisis after the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions that affected several Arab countries, including Yemen. The 2011 revolution took place against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. There was a political settlement under the auspices of the United Nations and a Gulf initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that facilitated the transfer of power to new government led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Yemen enjoys a distinct and vital geostrategic location that affects the movement of navigation and international trade, which makes it the focus of the international community, as Yemen overlooks Bab al-Mandab, which is a route for oil trade between the Middle East and European countries, and any threat to this sea lane is considered a threat to global trade in general. Therefore, it was expected that the international community represented by the United Nations and the Security Council would not allow any threats that would affect the global economy and the movement of trade exchange between its countries, or a coup against state authorities and institutions, and plunge Yemen into a devastating war. Evidence for this is that the Security Council held an extraordinary session in Sana’a in 2013 attended by the President and members of the Council, which carried multiple messages locally and internationally, which reflected the international community’s interest in Yemen’s security, unity and stability, and its direct sponsorship of a political settlement and the peaceful transfer of power as stipulated in the Gulf Initiative. After the coup of the Houthi group against the legitimate government in 2014, the Security Council issued several binding decisions under Chapter VII, the most important one is Resolution No. 2216, which condemns the coup and supports the legitimate government, and imposes sanctions against anyone who had a hand in this coup. Several UN envoys exchanged on the Yemeni's issue. Therefore, the vision becomes more ambiguous where the researcher or observer of the Yemeni situation tries to understand the role of the United Nations and Security Council in Yemen.