After days of unrest in Yemen, President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has resigned along with his Prime Minister and Cabinet.  This has left Yemen without established leadership in their country.  Houthi rebels in the region have seized control of important government buildings in the capital and have ignored peace deals presented to them and are demanding greater political influence in the country.  Yemen is also the home of the infamous terrorist organization, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and they are starting to gain control of supplementary parts of Yemen as well.  There have already been attempts of rebel takeover of Yemen’s government institutions, but officials believe Houthi rebels and Al Qaeda have an insufficient chance of gaining control over the entire country, according to cnn.com.

As long as the Houthi rebels and Al Qaeda don’t gain control of all of Yemen, it would be best for the United States if southern Yemen secedes and becomes a separate country.  If that happens then it will be a far greater help to us on our fight against terrorism.

In the south, government officials and separatists are already having talks of seceding.    Yemen’s north and south were separate countries until 1990 and there are talks of another civil war if Al Qaeda and Houthi rebels seek to capitalize on the chaos, to seize more territory throughout the country.  Violent protests have been occurring these past few days as the people of the distraught nation want to see government control and peace in the nation, even if that means the south has to secede from the country according to vicenews.com.  I feel that these protests will help stop rebels and Al Qaeda from terrorizing and hurting innocent people.  If the people of Yemen come together and perform violent protests it might change the rebel’s ideas for seizing control of the country.

The United States is starting to pull out members of the US embassy along with other diplomats and military officials in the country for our own safety.  Yemen’s government has been a key ally in our fight against Al Qaeda and the rebel takeover is causing issues in our fight against terrorism.  It would be in our best interest if southern Yemen secedes from Yemen. If they do, they will have a more stable government to help the United States overcome Al Qaeda and stop the Houthi rebels.  If the south secedes, then the United States can set up embassies and send diplomats along with military personnel in their new country.

Let’s say they did secede. By sending diplomats and military personnel into south, this could give us a far greater advantage on gaining intel on terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and other rebel groups that are a threat to the United States and civilians of Yemen.  Without our help in that country, Yemen’s government will be taking on rebel and terrorist forces alone.  This would give terrorists groups an advantage because without a strong United States influence and military support, terrorist organizations will be acting freely terrorizing civilians of Yemen and will become an even bigger threat to our national security.