Is Yemen in turn burning? Emergency evacuation of nationals

The already growing revolts are beginning to take a worrying turn in Yemen. Demonstrations against the power of President Saleh (in office since 1978) have caused several deaths in recent days. With a real manhunt for opponents, use of live ammunition and poison gas. Several countries, starting with the United Kingdom and the United States, had already beaten the recall of their nationals, advising them to leave the country. The British are preparing a "NEO" (non-combatant evacuation operation) from their operations headquarters in Northwood to evacuate their nationals by plane if the violence escalates further. France, and other European countries, have just taken the same recommendation: asking all those who have "no imperative reason to stay there, to temporarily leave the country as soon as possible, by taking commercial flights".

A country never completely pacified, with a proven risk of terrorist presence and potential for the development of piracy

Yemen, a small poor country in the Gulf, certainly does not have the importance of Libya or Egypt. But it is no less important in more ways than one. Located at a strategic crossroads, at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, facing Djibouti and Somalia, a Somali drift is undoubtedly more credible here than elsewhere. On the one hand, the reunification of the two Yemens, north and south, has never been fully realized. And the existence of a rebellion in the north turned into a real war at the end of 2009-beginning of 2010, with the intervention of planes from Saudi Arabia (well guided by satellite maps provided by the French). On the other hand, the increase in piracy in neighboring Somalia seems to be emulated there. One of the pirates judged in the United States for the attack on the Sy Quest is thus of Yemeni nationality. And the fear of a Yemeni strain of piracy could thus be heightened. Ships crossing the Gulf and the Red Sea would thus be caught between the two areas. Finally, we must not forget the resurgent presence of terrorist elements, Yemen constituting a favorable base for international actions for Al Qaeda in particular. Between theUSS Cole, subject of a suicide attack in the port ofAden en October 2000 and the attack against a British embassy car and a Frenchman in October 2010, passing through the (failed) attempt to attack the Amsterdam-Detroit plane, the terrorist of which was allegedly trained in Yemen, the threat of terrorism of Yemeni origin seems very real. And Britons and Americans had recently pledged to train and finance an anti-terrorist police force.