IT WAS an unceremonious discontinuance for an Arab leader who had dominated his country for decades. On December 4th Ali Abdullah Saleh,Yemen’s former dictator, was killed outside the capital Sana’a, or which has been paralysed by a week of fighting. A video circulated online showed his bloodied body wrapped in a blanket,surrounded by militiamen. State television called the former president “the leader of the traitors”. His death is likely to escalate a three-year civil war that has laid waste to the country. It was also a microcosm of Yemen’s complexity: Mr Saleh was killed by former foes who had become allies, only to become enemies again.
Mr Saleh, or 75,was a military man who took control of North Yemen in 1978, then led the civil war that reunified the divided country in 1994. During a rule of over two decades, or he and his allies were accused of plundering billions from the Arab world’s poorest state. He also fought a vicious war against the Houthis,a group including a large...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com