Yemen in the frame, again
<
http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/aaron-edwards> Aaron Edwards
29 April 2014
The toll of violence in Yemen continues unabated-if largely unreported. And
unless the international community engages with its causes and the local
parties, so it will remain.
Recent drone strikes and aerial bombardment by Yemeni forces against
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in which 55 militants were killed,
highlight the daily death and destruction in one of the world's failed
states. For months the murder of Yemeni soldiers and civilians has passed
largely unnoticed by western media preoccupied with chaos in Syria,
instability in Afghanistan and Russian moves in Ukraine.
Yet continuing violence in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has
severe repercussions for international security. In the background the
United States plays an as yet unacknowledged role bolstering the expertise
and fighting power of the Yemeni armed forces, while supporting a project of
governance reform. But AQAP tends to gain ground when punitive operations go
wrong-as with the drone strike on a wedding party last year in which up to
15 non-combatants were killed. And if the reform process fails a revitalised
threat to western states is a real prospect.
Harsh operations against militants inimical to government designs for the
southern parts of Yemen have a long history. Half a century ago British
troops saw action in the unforgiving mountains of South Yemen, battling
tribesmen from the rebellious Radfani confederation. However adept they were
at pulverising knots of dissidents with millions of bullets, countless
tonnes of ordnance and thousands of rockets, fired from advanced Hunter jet
aircraft, the uprising continued. By 1967 it had led to Britain's withdrawal
and the advent of a 'Marxist-Leninist' government, which would remain in
power until the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990.
Only candidate
Today, the government of Abu Rabbo Mansour Hadi has resorted to the same
coercive tactics, with the strikes against AQAP strongholds this month. Hadi
has been in power since February 2012 when he won a presidential
election-albeit as the only candidate---replacing Yemen's long-time ruler,
Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been ousted by swelling protests triggered by
other Arab uprisings across the region. Backed by the US, Hadi has sought to
bring to heel a range of militant opposition groups, from Houthi separatists
in the north to a looser tribal uprising in the vast emptiness of the
Hadhramaut governate in the east, and to defeat the armed challenge posed by
AQAP.
Notwithstanding the Islamist violence, vibrant secessionism in the south
poses the most significant challenge to state stability in the longer term.
And it has many faces. The tribal militancy in Hadhramaut governorate has
proven the most problematic boil for Hadi's government to lance,
necessitating the creation of a federally autonomous region. The problem is
nothing new: the adventurer Freya Stark pondered in her celebrated The
Southern Gates of Arabia (1936) "what a pacifist would make of the Buqri
family, or of any of the merchants of Hadhramaut who, after a life of
money-making, retire to an old age of guerrilla warfare in their valley".
And she wrote. "If the human race really longs so intensely for peace, there
must be some anomaly here."
Elsewhere in the south, other armed groups pose equally significant
challenges. In al-Dhale governorate the 33 Armoured Brigade of Yemen's armed
forces has been engaged in large-scale operations since December 2013. At a
cost of 40 civilian deaths (27 in just one incident), many wounded and
thousands displaced, little has been achieved. The United Nations high
commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, immediately condemned the
attacks and called for unrestricted humanitarian access.
In February, the UN Security Council passed
<
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sc11296.doc.htm> Resolution 2140
urging all those involved in violence to "end the conflicts and comply with
their obligations under applicable international humanitarian and human
rights law". The motion stressed the "need for parties to take all required
measures to avoid civilian casualties" and to "respect and protect the
civilian population". Turning its attention to non-state actors, the UN
called for renewed effort to tackle terrorist activity, the proliferation of
small arms and recruitment of child soldiers.
Lacklustre response
Beyond a fresh round of sanctions on those designated as "spoilers" of
Yemen's transition, however, no further action has been taken. This
lacklustre response has drawn heavy criticism from some Yemenis, pointing to
the futility of asset freezes and travel bans in a land where it is
difficult to apply the rigour of the rule of law.
Addressing the world's media after the Security Council meeting, the
secretary general's special adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, observed: 'With
this resolution, the council is supporting the legitimate aspirations of the
Yemenis, including the youth, who fought and continue to fight for deep and
meaningful change." The point of the resolution was to express unqualified
UN support for the Yemeni government, following the
<
http://www.ndc.ye/default.aspx> National Dialogue Conference.
The UN is not alone in wishing to see an end to the violence. NGOs like the
International Crisis Group and Amnesty International have protested at
infringements of universal human rights and international humanitarian law.
Western governments, while supportive of the political transition in train,
continue to call for a more concerted effort on security sector reform-so
Yemeni forces comply with the rule of law when employing lethal force.
The west should avoid direct intervention, military or otherwise, especially
in light of al-Qaeda's proven resilience across the middle east. It is not
possible to resolve the systemic crisis in Yemen by coercion alone and
heavy-handedness might well risk driving its battle-weary people further
into the arms of AQAP. As history shows, the belief that modern states can
defeat terrorism without addressing the underlying social and political
causes is misguided.
That armed opposition groups have consistently evaded the clutches of states
desperate to establish order in a country that has known little but crisis
throughout its turbulent past should not come as a surprise. Only if the
international community engages the people of Yemen in an equal partnership,
to address longstanding determinants of violence, can a sustainable solution
be found.
Received on Tue Apr 29 2014 - 16:30:19 EDT