Arab uprising: Country by country - Yemen

  • Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
    Aged 75
    Deposed after 23 years

  • Hosni Mubarak
    Aged 84
    Deposed after 29 years

  • Muammar Gaddafi
    Aged 68
    Killed after 42 years

  • Ali Abdullah Saleh
    Aged 70
    Deposed after 33 years

  • Bashar al-Assad
    Aged 48
    In power since 2000

  • King Hamad al-Khalifa
    Aged 63
    In power since 1999

  • King Abdullah Al Saud
    Aged 89
    In power since 2005

  • King Mohammed VI
    Aged 50
    In power since 1999

  • Abdelaziz Bouteflika
    Aged 76
    In power since 1999

  • King Abdullah II
    Aged 51
    In power since 1999

  • Sultan Qaboos bin Said
    Aged 73
    In power since 1970

  • Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah
    Aged 84
    In power since 2006

  • "We had a clean revolution. The former president turned out to be a coward. He just ran away. Not like the others - like the poor Libyans, or in Syria - but it lit the fuse to all the other revolutions"
    Wassim Herissi, radio DJ
  • "Our country's condition was getting worse and worse. There was corruption, torture, injustice, inequality and no freedom. Someone had to stand up and say 'enough is enough'"
    Ahmed Raafat Amin, protester
  • "It's freedom. There's no Gaddafi, unbelievable. I feel the freedom. I smell the freedom."
    Lamin el-Bijou, Banghazi resident
  • "If they are trying to scare us, they are wrong. We will continue. Let them come and burn the whole square, we will not leave."
    Protester in Change Square, Sanaa
  • "The Tunisians had already been freed. The Egyptians were on their way to be free. We thought it was our turn to be free too"
    Amer Matar, organiser of the first major protest in Syria
  • "We don't fear death any more, let the army come and kill us to show the world what kind of savages they are"
    Protester, Pearl Square, Manama
  • "I don't believe that liberal democracy will be put in place tomorrow but we have to start somewhere. Equality, the rule of law - the country is ready for this. We have to start the process"
    Dr Tawfik Alsaif, dissident campaigner
  • "They dare to voice criticism that they haven't dared to before; they dare say we want a king who does not rule, but who is a symbol. They dare to say and discuss this. Before it was not permitted"
    Mohamed El-Boukili, Moroccan Association for Human Rights
  • "One day this will be bigger than Tahrir Square - but not today. We will keep returning every week though until things begin to change and Algeria has democracy"
    Young protester at a rally
  • "We have to keep the pressure on this government. We are in the streets and we'll stay in the streets until we see all these demands working on the ground"
    Muhannad Sahafiin, protester
  • "Oman's stability was always just a cover... Oman is still a bomb waiting to explode"
    Basma al-Kiyumi, activist
  • "We have a government that doesn't listen, doesn't see and all it does is deceiving the people."
    Obeid al-Wasmi, opposition politician

What happened?

Map of Yemen

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh was the fourth Arab leader to be forced from power.

Demonstrations calling for the end of his 33-year rule began in January 2011. Mr Saleh promised not to seek re-election, but the protests spread. Security forces and Saleh supporters launched a crackdown that eventually left between 200 and 2,000 people dead.

In April 2011, Mr Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) agreed to a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal to hand over power, but the president refused to sign. This prompted the Hashid tribal federation and several army commanders to back the opposition, after which clashes erupted in Sanaa. In June 2011, Mr Saleh was seriously injured in a bombing and travelled abroad for medical treatment.

He returned to the presidential palace in September 2011 amid renewed clashes. It was not until November 2011 that he signed the deal that saw his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, assume power and form a unity government. Mr Hadi was sworn in for a two-year term as president in February 2012 after an election in which he stood unopposed.

Where are we now?

Since taking power, President Hadi has struggled to tackle widespread poverty and malnutrition, an Islamist insurgency led by al-Qaeda, a secessionist movement in the south, and Zaidi Shia rebels in the north. A National Dialogue Conference involving rival political, tribal, religious and social groups, is being held as part of the process to draft a new constitution and hold democratic elections in February 2014.

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