Yemen

Yemen is a country in the Middle East, formed, in 1990, from North Yemen, a part of the Ottoman Empire, and South Yemen, a British protectorate that ended in 1967. The country has a shoreline along the Red Sea, and shares borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Base map of Yemen by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

Economics

Among the poorest countries of the Arab world, it has had average annual growth in the range of 3-4% from 2000 through 2007. Its economic fortunes depend mostly on declining oil resources, but the country is trying to diversify its earnings.

In 2006 Yemen began an economic reform program designed to bolster non-oil sectors of the economy and foreign investment. As a result of the program, international donors pledged about $5 billion for development projects. In addition, Yemen has made some progress on reforms over the last year that will likely encourage foreign investment.

Security issues

CIA surveillance and targeted killing with armed unmanned aerial vehicles

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has maintained overflights in Yemen, looking for and sometimes attacking suspected terrorists. In 2002, targets identified as Al-Qaeda operatives iwere killed by a missile, launched, at their car, from a CIA-controlled Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).