Category Archives: Tribalism

Yemen Film 1973

Agriculture, Anthropology/Sociology, Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, camels, Film and Video, Gender and Sexuality, Music and Dance, Qat (Catha edulis), Sanaa, Teaching Resources, Tihama, Travel, Tribalism, Yemen, Zaydi

This exquisite film was produced in 1973 and filmed in 1972, thus representing Yemen half a century ago. It is now available on Youtube. The filmmakers were Karen and Alain Saint Hilaire. The camera was a bolex ebm electric. It has filmed when Qadi al-Iryani was the head of government. There are scenes from the Tihama, Sanaa, Sa‘da, Ma’rib, etc, including many crafts, fishing, agriculture, a funeral, celebration of the end of the civil war and much more. It is well worth spending two hours to watch this archival film of a Yemen now largely past but not forgotten.

Qadi al-Iryani in 1972
Celebration in Sanaa on the anniversary of the end of the civil war

As Yemen implodes

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Huthis, Sanaa, Terrorism Issue, Tribalism, Yemen, Zaydi

All eyes at the moment are glued to the news about the aerial attacks by a coalition of Saudi, GCC and Jordanian planes (with more to come it seems) on Huthi and military targets in Yemen. This is not a scenario I want to see; this is not a commentary I want to write. Yemen is imploding, the victim of long standing foreign involvement, local rivalries fueled by the insecurity with the removal of Ali Abdullah Salih and, in large part, the insatiable drive of Salih and his supporters to regain power. The Arab Spring removal of Salih was relatively peaceful, at least in terms of a military standoff and an explosion that could easily have ended Salih’s life but for the grace of the Saudis to put him back together. Guns abound in Yemen, as everyone knows, but the kind of hate-fueled warfare that has engulfed Iraq and Syria had not erupted. There was a national dialogue that most, but not all, groups participated in. There was a glimmer of hope.

This morning that glimmer seemed much dimmer, following on the rapid turn of events since the Huthi takeover of Sanaa and the recent escape of President Hadi to Aden. Yemen’s fragmented military is no match for the Saudi coalition arsenal directed by American intelligence. A bunch of gabilis in pick-up trucks may look tough on first glance, but they might as well be riding chariots. Reports suggest Saudi Arabia has assembled a force of some 150,000 at their border, with fears that a local RISK game will break out after the bombing has nullified the capacity of the Huthis to resist any advance. Continue reading As Yemen implodes →

Here come the Huthis…

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Huthis, Sanaa, Tribalism, Yemen, Zaydi

Are the Houthis a symptom of regional mistrust?

by Abdullah Hammidaddin, alarabiya.net, Saturday, 20 September 2014

Ten years ago this month Ali Saleh had ordered the field execution of Husayn al-Houthi. This was after a three-month war between government forces and Husayn’s supporters in a remote village in northern Yemen. At the time, Husayn’s supporters were few and I believe the matter could have ended there. But Saleh decided to push on and confront the rest of Husayn’s family who then reacted by picking up arms again. They ended up surviving five wars waged by the government. Today Abdulmalik al-Houthi – Husayn’s younger brother – has forces in Sanaa and this time he is threating the Yemeni government, forcing it to make concessions.

In the past year alone, the Houthis have altered the political landscape of Yemen. They pushed the Ahmar family out of their homes and overthrew their three hundred year sheikhdom and authority in the tribal federation of Hashid. They took the al-Jawf area as a strategic last stronghold for their adversaries. They’ve forged alliances with most tribes in the northern region and also in the south. And now in Sanaa they are fighting against both the militias of the Islah party (Muslim Brotherhood branch in Yemen) and military factions loyal to General Ali Muhsin Al-Ahmar in what could escalate into a major war in the fragile capital city. Continue reading Here come the Huthis… →

A Hadrami Million

"Arab Spring", Aden, Tribalism, Yemen

Southern Yemeni Activists Prepare for Nationwide Rally
by Susanne Dahlgren, MERIP, April 24, 2014

For the first time, a Million-Person Rally or milyuniyya will be held in Yemen’s oil-rich eastern province of Hadramawt. It is being called milyuniyyat al-huwiya al-junubiyya or the Million-Strong Rally for Southern Identity.

The mass demonstration aims to unify all of the southern Yemeni protests against the Sanaa regime. For two years now, milyuniyya rallies have been held in Aden, the hub of southern Yemeni revolution, gathering large crowds of men from all over the southern provinces and women from less far-flung areas to give voice to the concerns of southerners before the world. The object of the April 27 rally is to commemorate the 1994 “war against the south” that led to the downfall of the southern army and the solidification of ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih’s rule, understood by many southerners as a northern occupation. The choice of Mukalla, Hadramawt’s main port, as the site for the demonstration is significant; only months earlier tribes gathered to form the Hadramawt Tribes Confederacy, in order to resist what is considered a systematic looting of the fruits of the land by the regime, which is distributing business deals to its cronies while marginalizing locals. The tipping point was the murder of a notable tribal sheikh at an army post, which sparked a full-blown popular uprising. Continue reading A Hadrami Million →

Qabilis and Huthis in Amran

"Arab Spring", Huthis, Tribalism, Yemen

رجال قبائل والحوثيون يوقعون اتفاقاً لوقف الاقتتال في عمران وإخراج المسلحين الوافدين إلى المنطقة

المصدر أونلاين – خاص
الثلاثاء 4 فبراير 2014 05:38:47 مساءً

قالت مصادر محلية إن اتفاقاً جرى توقيعه اليوم الثلاثاء بين قبائل حاشد وجماعة الحوثيين المسلحة لوقف الاقتتال في محافظة عمران وإخراج المسلحين الوافدين إلى المنطقة وتأمين الطرقات.

وذكرت المصادر لـ”المصدر أونلاين” إن القبائل والحوثيين اتفقوا على إخراج المسلحين الوافدين الى المنطقة، وفتح وتأمين الطريق العام وعدم التجوال بالأسلحة الثقيلة، ونشر قوات الجيش في عدد من المواقع في منطقتي خيوان وحوث.

وجاء الاتفاق برعاية اللجنة الرئاسية المكلفة بإيقاف إطلاق النار برئاسة قائد قوات الأمن الخاصة اللواء فضل بن يحيى القوسي وأمين العاصمة عبدالقادر هلال.

ونص الاتفاق على انسحاب الطرفين من مواقع الاقتتال، وعدم العودة إليها لاحقاً أو استحداث مواقع أخرى، وكذا منع الطرفين من “أي أعمال تثير الفتنة”.

كما نص الاتفاق على إعادة المهجرين من مديرية حوث إلى قراهم وبيوتهم وأموالهم.

لكن مصدراً قبلياً قال لـ”المصدر أونلاين” إن الشيخ حسين الأحمر غادر عمران بعدما حصلت ما وصفتها بـ”الخيانات”ØŒ من قبل عدد من مشائخ ريده وخيوان وحوث، الذين أعلنوا عدم محاربة الحوثيين والسماح لهم بالدخول إلى مناطقهم.

ونفى المصدر قيام الحوثيين بتطبيق الاتفاق، قائلاً إنهم يتجولون بأسلحتهم الخفيفة والثقيلة، ويتوسعون بشكل كبير، فيما لم تنتشر القوات العسكرية الا في مناطق محدودة.

وفي دنان، قالت مصادر محلية لـ”المصدر أونلاين” إن الحوثيين عرضوا على أهاليها توقيع صلح معهم، مقابل عدم الدخول في حرب معهم.

وأضافت المصادر أن الأهالي وافقوا على عقد الصلح مع الحوثيين، خشية من الدخول في معارك جديدة معهم.

وسيطر الحوثيون خلال اليومين الماضيين على مناطق في مديريتي (حوث، والخمري) بعمران بعد معارك عنيفة خاضوها مع رجال قبائل حاشد المسلحين أسفرت عن سقوط عشرات القتلى والجرحى من الجانبين.