Yemen Timeline: From January 2011 To March 2015
Yemen: A Timeline
- January 27, 2011: Protesters in Sanaa call for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign after three decades in power. Yemen’s revolution kicks off.
- Sept. 12, 2011: Saleh signs a document giving Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi special power to negotiate a transition of power with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Joint Meeting Parties, Yemen’s political opposition parties.
- December 2011: Saleh announces that he handed power over to his designated vice president, Hadi, under the terms of the GCC-brokered transition of power initiative.
- January 2012: Saleh and several of his close allies and family members are given full immunity by parliament.
- Feb. 21, 2012: Hadi is elected president of Yemen in a one-man election. His term is set for two years, during which he will oversee Yemen’s institutional and political transition in keeping with the National Dialogue Conference resolutions.
- January 2014: Members of the NDC reach a tentative agreement in the capital Sanaa. The terms of a draft constitution are finally ironed out so that Yemen can finalize its transition of power.
- September 2014: The Houthis reach Sanaa following a blazing campaign against Islah in the highlands. Abdel Malik al-Houthi calls on Hadi to commit to the implementation of all NDC resolutions, per the January 2014 agreement. A deal is signed in Sanaa and a new coalition government is formed.
- January 2015: Following months of political wrangling and rising tensions Hadi announces his resignation. His entire cabinet resigns. Hadi and several ministers are immediately put under house of arrest by the Houthis as Jamal Benomar, UN Special Envoy to Yemen, attempts to return all parties to the negotiating table.
- February 2015: Hadi flees Sanaa for Aden, where he announces Aden as the new capital of Yemen, essentially splitting Yemen in two. Sanaa becomes a diplomatic ghost town as all foreign embassies withdraw their diplomats from the city.
- March 2015: The U.S. announces the evacuation of its troops from Al Anad airbase near Aden.
- March 25, 2015: Saudi Arabia unilaterally launched an attack on Yemen with the backing of eight Arab countries — Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan — and the support of the United States and European Union. Within days Pakistan joins the coalition, but as of Tuesday, continues to refuse to commit militarily.
