After a year of fighting, more than 9,000 casualties and over 2.4 million internally displaced persons, a UN-brokered ceasefire deal has gone into effect on Monday 11 April with the hopes of paving the way for peace talks that will be held in Kuwait on the 18th of April. Houthi fighters have released statements that they will deal positively with any efforts to lift the suffering of the Yemeni people. People are sceptic about the truce as there have been reports of continued fighting and earlier truces have been broken off before.

The fight in Yemen had started in March 2015 after Shia Houthi rebels had overthrown Sunni President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in February that year. After the Arab Spring resulted in nationwide protests in January 2012 against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s three-decade rule, President Hadi was elected President for a two-year transitional period on 21 February 2012 in an election in which he was the only candidate, with the goal of restoring order in Yemen after the revolution. The then established supervising organisation of the National Dialogue Conference however extended this transitional period for another year in order to try to reach consensus on major issues facing the country's future. In the end of 2014, this process was disrupted by conflicts between Houthi rebels and Sunni Islamist group Al-Islah. Following this conflict, the Houthis took over the capital of Sana’a and forced President Hadi and his cabinet to resign on 22 January 2015. The Houthis declared themselves in control of the government, which the international community and the United Nations decried to be a coup d’état. On 21 February, Hadi withdrew his resignation and claimed to still be the rightful President, establishing himself in the city of Aden.

On the 25th of February 2016, the EU Parliament had voted in favour of an arms sales embargo to Saudi Arabia after criticism arose from the UN over civilian casualties resulting from Saudi Arabia's bombardements in Yemen. While the vote does not compel EU Member States to act on it, it increases the pressure on the country to take care of civilians. Predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia supports the so called Yemen 'loyalists' that support the Sunni government of President Hadi.

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For an extended analysis of the various warring parties and the context surrounding the conflict, click here.