In the latter half of March 2011, military and political divisions in Yemen reached their zenith. It was as if the Greek gods of war had marked this month with their own imprimatur. The capital city of Sanaa had endured several terrible nights throughout April and May, as different influential forces battled one another in an armed conflict that pitted personnel and weapons from a divided army on both sides at the points of friction. Sanaa came to resemble Beirut when the latter was divided into eastern and western sections during the civil war of the 1980s. Reports coming out of Yemen indicated that the country was poised on the brink. The grim specter of civil war kept Yemenis awake at night, and even left anxious Western capitals sleepless at the prospect of an already tumultuous Yemen slipping into outright civil war.
At the same time, a UN diplomat of Moroccan origins who worked prodigiously and tirelessly to prevent Yemen from descending into the grips of mass violence suddenly emerged. Jamal Benomar — an adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon — and his delegation to Yemen had not previously been well-known in the country. His extensive experience in working with international institutions did not earn him anything like the attention that his efforts in Yemen have. The latter have turned him into something of an international political star. Yemeni media regularly hosts him as a senior guest, even after his 24th official visit to the country.
