(Reuters) – Yemen’s warring parties have failed to leave the main port city of Hodeidah three months after agreeing to a breakthrough U.N.-led truce deal as part of efforts to end a four-year-old war that has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
The following is a timeline of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country’s slide into violence and how the conflict has developed.
– 1990. Unification of north and south Yemen to form a single state under president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
– 1994. Civil war in which Saleh prevents south, angered by what it sees as its lower status, from splitting with north.
– 2003-09. Houthi group in north protests marginalisation of the local Zaydi Shi’ite Muslim sect and fights six wars with Saleh’s forces and one with Saudi Arabia.
– 2011. Arab Spring protests undermine Saleh’s rule, lead to splits in the army and allow al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to seize swathes of territory in the east.
– 2012. Saleh steps down in a political transition plan backed by Gulf states. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi becomes interim president and oversees a “national dialogue” to draft a more inclusive, federal constitution.
– 2013. AQAP survives military onslaught and drone strikes, staging attacks across the country while retaining a persistent presence. Saleh and his allies undermine the political transition.
– 2014. The Houthis rapidly advance south from Saadeh and seize Sanaa on September 21 with help from Saleh. They demand a share in power.
– 2015. Hadi tries…
