Yemen teeters on the brink of collapse

The Heat

CCTV’s The Heat focused on Yemen where the country is in dire condition.

The UN Special Envoy to Yemen has warned that the poorest country in the Middle East may be on the brink of a civil war. The Houthi rebels, an armed Shia group have formally taken over the country effectively dissolving parliament and placing the country’s president under house arrest.

CCTV’s Jim Spellman filed this report from Washington, D.C.

A panel of experts spoke on the current crisis in Yemen:

  • Osman Bakhach is a Middle-East politics expert
  • Baraa Shiban is a Yemeni human rights activist.
  • Sama’a Al-Hamdani is a Yemeni political analyst.

Here is part two of the discussion:

Yemen is without a clear leader or a legitimate government and the United Nations says Yemen is “collapsing”. Deposed Yemeni president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi escaped house arrest on Saturday, rescinding his resignation and calling rebel actions illegitimate.

The Houthis ousted the government a few weeks ago, placing the president under house arrest and detaining other leading figures of the Yemeni government. The U.N. Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the Shia Houthi rebels “immediately and unconditionally” cede power.