Yemen on the Verge of Total State Collapse While the Global Community Remains Silent

Home , Khaled Bahah, Southern Movement, State collapse

Charlotte Hohmann / Said AlDailami

Six years after the successful protests of the so-called “Arab Spring” leading to the resignation of former President Ali Abdallah Saleh, Yemen is facing a war on multiple fronts. The Arab world’s poorest country is suffering from a political situation that has already been fragile and is now on the verge of total state collapse. The violence has triggered a humanitarian disaster with at least three million Yemenis being internally displaced and a famine threatening the country. An end of the conflict is not yet in sight. The international community seems to follow their own interests instead of trying to conclude a ceasefire and peace agreement.

Schlagwörter: Arab Spring - Yemen - Civil War - Sunni-Shia - Conflict Saudi Arabia-Iran - Houthi - Saleh - International Intervention

YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT

|| Charlotte Hohmann / Sail AlDailami

Introductory Remarks Generally speaking, Yemen is now divided between two warring parties. Six years after the start of the 2011 The country has been devastated by a uprising and the successful protests of struggle between forces loyal to the in- the so-called “Arab Spring”, leading to ternationally recognized government the resignation of former President Ali under president Hadi and those allied to Abdallah Saleh, Yemen is facing a war on the Houthi rebel movement. Since March multiple fronts. The combination of 2015 at least 10,000 civilians have been proxy wars, sectarian violence, state killed and 42,000 injured2 – the majority collapse and militia rule has sadly be- due to air strikes effected by a Saudi-led come part of the everyday routine. Even military intervention. The violence has though the political process seemed triggered a humanitarian disaster, leav- promising, the transition has failed. ing between 70 and 80 percent of the There is little hope in producing a last- population in urgent need of humanitar- ing settlement within the near future, as ian assistance3 “nobody is likely to win such a fight, which will only benefit those who pros- Yemen is on the verge of a famine, per in the chaos of war”1. leaving almost 500,000 children at the risk of starving to death. Over half of its As a matter of fact, Yemen is at war. 26 million citizens face severe food in- The Arab world’s poorest country is suf- security. The restrictions of food and fering from a political situation that has fuel import due to a variety of aerial and already been fragile and is now on the naval blockades have led the people be- verge of total state collapse. What at ing deprived of life-sustaining commodi- first began with localized fighting has ties and basic services4. Civilians have since escalated into full blown war, been repeatedly victims of serious viola- characterized by vast diffused dynamics, tions of international humanitarian law including a large number of different and human rights. Human Rights Watch actors – a war which is systematically has already discovered and documented creating one of the world’s worst human- a large number of unlawful airstrikes itarian disasters and bringing up con- and other war crimes committed by both flicts that seemed to be long time forgot- warring parties5. Furthermore, more ten, including inter-religious and re- than half of Yemen’s health facilities are gional struggles. currently either not functioning or only

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 47 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI

bian Peninsula and the so called Islamic State to grow and take advantage of the country’s catastrophic and chaotic situa- tion7. As a result, the country’s refugee flow is increasing rapidly: At least three million Yemenis are currently internally displaced.

A vast picture of a variety of actors that is not able to show who is fighting who characterizes Yemen’s crisis and the war. However, it is certain that the current crisis has many causes, but was ultimately precipitated by Yemen’s former political dynamics and the intervention of regional powers at the cost of basic services including water, healthcare, security and justice8. Not only has the country struggled with the failure of the political transition but also with the uprising of old conflicts between religious and regional groups un- According to UNICEF, half of Yemen’s population currently derlying structural issues. Problems that lives on less than $2 a day. The country’s health facilities are the country already overcame long time either only partially working or not functioning at all. Source: HSF Tunisia. ago are now characterizing the war.

Historical Background

In order to demonstrate how Yemen got into its current crisis, the following extract will point out the historical background by underlining the different phases the country went through from a divided to finally united nation. It will Almost 500,000 children are suffering from sever malnutri- be important to realize that during the tion, leaving them at the risk of starving to death. Source: HSF Tunisia. last decades Yemen has already dealt with the conflicts that are now charac- partially working. This means that half terizing the present critical situation. of the society suffers significantly from After the final withdrawal of the Ot- insufficient healthcare6. toman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century, Yemen went through differ- The conflict has fragmented a weak ent periods from developing two sepa- state, destroyed the country’s poor in- rated states followed by unification, frastructure and paved the way for ter- revolution and reorganization including rorists groups like Al-Qaeda in the Ara- international intervention and recurring

48 ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT tensions. Obviously, the country had to plan to unify the two countries. Howev- cope with many ongoing conflicts strug- er, this change was not supposed to gling to maintain internal cohesion happen at this time. In 1978, Ali Abdul- throughout all its history. Considering lah Saleh became president of the still Yemen as the Arab world’s poorest and separate north and guided the YAR to- probably most violent country, it is not wards a centralized system of govern- surprising that the history was shaped ment characterized by a focus on the by a large number of perennial civil wars control of the country’s resources and a between various groups. concentration of power within his re- gime10. To begin with, the present tensions or rather fighting between northern and South Yemen southern movements can be traced back to the former division into north and Regarding the south of Yemen, it has south regions with their own distinct to be emphasized that Yemen’s location developments: across the Gulf of Aden has always played an important role in the course of North Yemen its historic development. The first, who saw an economically important key point Since the Ottoman Empire had within Yemen, was the British government. drawn its control from the country, the Already in the early 19th century, the rule of Zaydi imam Muhammed Yahya British East India Company had captured was formally recognized in the north of the port of Aden in order to provide a Yemen. After his death, he was succeed- coaling station for ships, established as ed by his son Ahmad. His reign was the Aden Settlement. It gained even mainly shaped by growing repression, more political and strategic importance renewed friction with the UK and grow- after the opening of the Suez Canal that ing pressures to support Arab nationalist still remains one of the most important objectives. He died in September 1962 waterways through which oil shipments and his son took over the power leading are passing11. to the creation of the Yemen Arab Re- public (YAR). This was followed by grow- Until 1937 Aden was ruled as part of ing tensions with forces loyal to the British India as the colony of Aden, that Kingdom in the south, including inter- should stay in its own right but was tied ventions by Saudi Arabia, Jordan and to Britain by treaties of protection. Dur- Egypt which started the North Civil War. ing the following decades, Britain signed The fighting ended by the recognition of agreements with local rulers and created the Republic in 19709. the Aden Protectorate, later divided into East and West protectorate for adminis- Shortly after, fighting erupted again trative reasons. between north and south Yemen, including repeated intervention by its neigh- Given the fact, that the economic bor Saudi Arabia and the USSR. The con- development was largely centered in the flict was short-lived and led to the 1972 port city Aden flourishing due to the dis- Cairo Agreement that already included a covery of crude oil, whereas the rural

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 49 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI regions around the city stagnated, pres- land providing the government as main sure for the British to leave the territory source of employment13. grew. Soon the government of Egypt, fighting against British rule in the Mid- Unification dle East, tried to increase the pressure on the British by creating the United Meanwhile, the north was struggling Arab Republic in order to incorporate more and more financially and the south Yemen. On the other hand, Britain had to face bankruptcy regarding the formed the Federation of Arab Emirates collapse of the Soviet Union. As a result of the South with various southern the two states were forced to agree to states. They wanted to incorporate all of merge in a deal between the leaders of the Aden Protectorate into the Federa- the YAR, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the tion during the 60s, which was renamed PDRY, Ali Salim al-Baidh. They were later the Federation of South Arabia12. supposed to work on a draft for a unity constitution. The Republic of Yemen During the following years further (ROY) was declared on 22 May 1990 fighting between different actors backed with Saleh becoming president and al- by Egyptian forces and British-led Baidh vice president. movements broke out in order to gain The constitution had already includ- power in the southern region until Brit- ed a large number of terms that fit to the ain announced its withdrawal in the late nowadays understanding of democracy 60s leading to the creation of the Peo- such as free elections, a multiparty polit- ple’s Republic of South Yemen. ical system and respect of basic human rights14. Shortly after, a radical Marxist wing of the NLF, the National Liberation Front However, continuous negotiations that was created during the aforemen- between northern and southern leaders tioned conflicts, gained power leading to restarted and it seemed that the two the renamed People’s Democratic Re- states had not been properly merged. public of Yemen (PDRY), establishing the Clashes intensified and another civil war Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) as only le- broke out in 1994 with most of all the gal party. Consequently, the south set up fighting concentrated in the southern close diplomatic relations to other com- region. Consequently, southern leaders munist countries. declared secession and the creation of the Democratic Republic of Yemen, Despite the fact that at this time which was not recognized by the inter- Yemen was officially separated into two national community. independent states and the coexistence remained relatively friendly, the next Following the civil war, the Saleh years were shaped again by recurring regime further consolidated its control civil wars not only between north and over the country’s resources and institu- south but also between distinct move- tions, reserving all of the economic ad- ments within the regions. After the civil vantages for the inner circle of the gov- war of 1986 in the south, the state be- ernment. In effect, the regions outside of came owner of all major enterprises and urban centers were excluded which led

50 ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT to an increasing tribal animosity to- countries that participated in the so- wards the state15. It is important to real- called “Arab Spring”. ize that the areas where oil and gas were produced remained among the least de- Religious Impacts on the Historic Devel- veloped in the country. Despite interna- opment in Yemen18 tional initiatives to invest on major in- frastructure projects and a series of new In contrast to the widespread as- laws aiming at the creation of elected sumption that most of the conflicts in local councils, the socio-political situa- the Middle East, including Yemen, can tion became fragile and the living stand- be attributed to struggles between reli- ards started to deteriorate. Additionally, giously distinct groups, there is quite the political culture was characterized evidence that this statement cannot be by the promotion of corruption. Fur- applied for the case of Yemen. Although thermore, members of Saleh’s regime the country is consisting of two major became more and more aware of the fact religious groups, the Zaydi Shia Muslims that he was attempting to advance the in the north and the Sunni Muslims of interests of his family by leaving behind the Shafi’I school in the south and east, other elite powers16. their history has been mainly shaped by a peaceful coexistence since many dec- Due to growing tensions within ades. “The religious divide has histori- Saleh’s regime and increasing resent- cally been of limited importance”19. ment on the part of the people, rebel However, internal conflicts have al- movements such as the Houthis, a Zaydi ways existed, but they were certainly Shia identity based group, as well as the driven by political, economic, tribal or southern movement, which was calling regional differences. Even though they for a new secession, started to arise coincided sometimes with religious dis- more and more during the early 2000s. parities, they have never been the Therefore, the regime was threatened by source of the conflict. However, Zaydi- a loss of legitimacy. In order to ease the Shafi’i sectarianism has always re- uprising tensions, the government held a mained an undercurrent in politics and conference composed by opposition society. Even though the constitution of groups in 2009 and 2010 that, however, the Republic of Yemen banned the crea- finally didn’t really succeed. Therefore, tion of religiously based political par- Yemenis followed the initial stages of ties, a variety of sectarian parties were the Tunisian development at that time established, including the Islah party, and took to the street to call for a politi- considered as the biggest Sunni party. cal change17. The protests were mostly Furthermore, uprising rebel movements against unemployment, economic condi- like Houthi and the Southern movement tions and corruption in order to finally have used religious terms as a new and force president Saleh to resign. effective way to gain more supporters and fighters. Considering the historic development of Yemen, it is therefore not sur- To sum up, although religious im- prising that the country arrived at this pacts cannot be seen as the source of crucial point as one of the many Arab former and recent conflicts, they certain-

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 51 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI ly have become “more heated, reorganiz- to improve the humanitarian situation. ing Yemeni society along sectarian lines Therefore, the movement is challenging and rearranging people’s relationships the growing distrust of their supporters. to one another”20. In fact, their interests are based on the aim to gain the access and power over Important state and non-state actors21 essential resources and to remain their control over the territory around Yem- Considering Yemen’s development en’s capital Sanaa22. prior to the 2011 uprising and the following dynamics, it might be useful to Southern Movement (Hirak al-Janoubi) present some of the major actors that played a role in the vast diffused picture The south of Yemen is consisting of characterizing the current crisis. a large number of different groupings that have many different objectives. Houthis Considering the region’s former inde- pendence, it is not surprising that most After being a locally limited protest of its tribal areas and leading authorities movement, the Houthis have developed are continuously calling for secession as to one of the most powerful political soon as tensions with the northern part forces in the north of Yemen. In the be- arise as shown in the aforementioned ginning, the rebel group that was mainly historic development. In 2007, southern marginalized economically by the Saleh leaders finally created the Southern regime focused their efforts on the Movement, an organization committed preservation of their Zaydi (Shiite) iden- to represent southerner’s interests. tity. It started as a religious and revival- Whereas most of the supporters aim at ist movement among practitioners of the gaining a new secession, other parts of Zaydi Shi’ism, native to the Sa’da gover- the movement recognize the opportunity norate in the north. Since the “Arab to work together with the north in order Spring” in 2011 the Houthis have seen to improve the current situation. themselves as political actor on the government level. AQAP and other separatist organizations

However, the group is separated in- Although AQAP, Al-Qaeda in the to two wings – the moderate and mili- Arabian Peninsula, has been operating tant political wing – both of them pursu- in Yemen since the early 1990s, the con- ing different targets. The Houthis are flict that has fragmented a weak state fighting against former (corrupted) paved the way for them to grow and elites, sunni islamist groupings prepared seize more territory. According to inter- to use violence and the international national assumptions, the Al-Qaeda affil- intervention, especially the United iate in Yemen is the world’s most dan- States. Their approach is characterized gerous. Due to the separation of security by violent armed force. According to forces after the 2011 uprising and the critics their only aim is to gain the com- consequent lack of security, AQAP was plete power over the country which con- able to expand their territorial control trasts with some of the leader’s rhetoric and is now competing with other violent

52 ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT groups like the so called Islamic State in 1990, it has been dampened signifi- (ISIS) to recruit more militants. Howev- cantly during the recent development. er, AQAP is already cooperating with As a Yemeni grouping supporting re- Yemeni tribal networks and therefore forms and consisting of various tribal more integrated, whereas ISIS is rather and religious groups, they are benefiting seen as a foreign force. until now from a large number of supporters. However, the party has to chal- The high propensity to violence and the lenge a loss of allies within the Yemeni willingness to seize more and more terri- army and a loss of tribal militias. As a tory in order to establish protected areas result, there is an urgent need for reor- for terrorist fighters, characterize these ganization in order to assure its political movements. AQAP, ISIS and further sep- survival and the retention of power. aratist groupings are benefiting from the current chaos. Certainly, these groups Saudi Arabia have to be considered as one of the biggest threats for Yemen’s development Since many decades, Saudi Arabia regarding a long lasting settlement of has played a powerful role in the Yemeni the conflict. context. The Kingdom sees the current conflict, especially the growing penetra- General People’s Congress (GPC) tion of the Houthi movement, as a threat regarding its contest with Iran to gain The former ruling party, the General regional dominance. Furthermore, hav- People’s Congress (GPC), to which both ing a hostile neighbor would also threat- Saleh and Hadi belong is now divided en its southern borders. Therefore, Saudi into two different wings. One wing keeps Arabia takes a clear stand on the inter- being loyal to Saleh, who is still chair- nationally recognized government under man of the party; the other wing is call- President Hadi and established an anti- ing for Hadi to become new representa- Houthi coalition backed by Western and tive and is willing to cooperate with oth- Gulf Cooperation Council allies that er political parties. Between 2011 and President Hadi is cobbling together. 2014 half of the ministers were members They consider the Houthis as Iranian of the GPC. However, the power struggle proxies – a stance that pushes them between Saleh and Hadi pushed the party closer to Tehran. The Saudis even moved into a more deep division and Hadi suc- their embassy to Aden and support anti- ceeded in excluding Saleh totally. Houthi tribal movements in the gover- norate of Marib and the South. In March Considering the party’s internal di- 2015 the coalition, consisting of a large vision, its interests are mainly focused number of Sunni Arab and other coun- on securing its political existence and tries (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the retention of power. Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt and Senegal) as well as parts of Islah Party Yemen’s army and tribal movements, launched a campaign of air strikes aimed Although the Islah party was part of at restoring Hadi’s government. The mul- the first Parliament after the unification tinational coalition received logistical

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 53 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI and intelligence support from the US, UK ship of arms in society. Yemen’s popula- and France. tion possesses around 60 million con- ventional weapons. With this in mind, it Socio-political and Security Dynamics should be a country with a high rate of after 2011 violence or rather a population with willingness to use it. It seems that the big and accelerat- ing dynamics of change having hap- The Initiative provided an imple- pened in the different places from the mentation mechanism that should lead first day of the so called Arab spring un- to a new constitution, reforms in the til today let us sometimes forget the security sector and a ten-month National starting point trying to shape the scene Dialogue Conference (NDC) in order to and to examine who was standing for develop recommendations for the politi- what and which actors entered the scene cal future of the country. It was an at- and changed the whole transformation tempt to integrate all actors that played process at a certain point. a role in this essential period. UN members and important socio-political actors During the six years after the “Arab of the international community partici- Spring”, Yemen has passed through dif- pated in these discussions. As a result, it ferent phases of the transformation pe- reached constructive conclusions on the riod, each of them characterized by its political future and gave useful recom- own distinct dynamics. The initial peace- mendations that were supposed to be ful transition of power after the protest applied by the interim government. movements, started with the resignation of former President Saleh in November However, some of the important key 2011 by handing over his power to the issues, such as the country’s federal interim President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur structure, as well as new uprising actors Hadi, and his former deputy in February on the political level, including the 2012. Hadi was chosen as president for Houthis, the so-called “Revolutionary a two-year transitional period. Presiden- Youth” that participated enormously in tial elections were held, he was, howev- the protests of 2011, and the tribal mo- er, the only candidate. In return, Saleh bilization in the south, have not been was ensured immunity from prosecution considered as much for the final round for himself and his family, stated in the of talks. In fact, the southern independ- Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative ence movement did not even participate which was the result of negotiations in in the conference, because it demanded Yemen between numerous of crucial po- the division of the country which was litical actors. not part of the negotiations. Remarkably all negotiations and The results of the conference were their impacts were conducted in the supposed to enable the interim govern- most peaceful way – despite the fact ment under President Hadi to overcome that Yemen has been suffering from trib- the imminent division of the population, al conflicts for a long time and is one of politics and military within a short peri- the Arab world’s poorest countries. Fur- od of time. However, former elites kept thermore, there is a widespread owner- sharing the power over the country and

54 ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT the government was composed by the their ordinary governmental affairs. former as well as new ruling party GPC Hadi’s government struggled with a va- and the opposition party Islah. Further- riety of problems, including attacks by more, Ex-President Saleh remained, af- Al-Qaeda, the separatist movement in ter being deposed in 2011, chairman of the south, the continuing loyalty of many the GPC, even though he was excluded military officers to Saleh as well as cor- from the political scene. ruption, unemployment and food insecu- rity. Additionally, there was a lack of In general, the situation was charac- available funds in order to conduct nec- terized by a weak president and a wide essary projects. range of further authorities that were Therefore, the government lost its sharing the power. In fact, Yemen has legitimacy and the confidence of Yem- always been like this: The president’s en’s population very fast which opened power has always been limited to the big vast opportunities for new actors to cities and their surroundings while his grow and gain power. Moreover, Presi- controlling power over the rest of the dent Hadi did not have the sufficient country depended on his cleverness. military power in order to continually Contrary to Ex-President Saleh, Hadi was prevail against his political competitors. not appropriately qualified for this task. All of these circumstances led to the cur- For this reason, the government did rent situation. Already during the NDC not succeed in fulfilling its promises to the northern movements, such as the end corruption and improve the humani- Houthis – a predominantly Zaydi / Shiite tarian and economic situation, as deter- group – in cooperation with Ex- mined in the recommendations of the President Saleh, have tried to extend NDC. their power through gaining control over Instead, Yemen’s socio and security- northern regions and essential resources political situation continued to deterio- by armed force. Saleh had taken ad- rate more and more. To put it another vantage of this popular dissatisfaction way, it seemed that the promising on the part of the population and tacitly peaceful start of the transition would allied himself with the Houthis against reach a crucial turning point very soon. their common enemies to stage a politi- And this is what happened shortly after23 cal comeback – not necessarily for him- 24 25. self, but for his son and the people from the Sanhan tribe, the region he comes Turning Point from.

As mentioned before, the govern- Political assassinations of leading ment, composed by the former govern- Houthi / Saleh supporters followed and mental party and a coalition of the for- the situation deteriorated once more. mer opposition, was unable to imple- The political transition which had al- ment concrete requirements the popula- ready been in trouble for some time, tion had longed for since 2011. In fact, began to unravel in September 2014, they were engaged with internal reforms when the alliance of Houthi militias and and conflicts between each other to a fighters aligned with Saleh captured the point that they could not follow up on capital Sanaa and forced thereby the

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 55 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI interim government under President fore. In this context, it has to be demon- Hadi to step down. strated which role the international Shortly after, a new consensus gov- community, especially Saudi Arabia and ernment was established, consisting of western countries, play26 27 28 29. technocrats under premier minister Khaled Bahah, which also stepped down The Role of the International Community in January 2015 due to the Houthi’s interference in governmental affairs. As As previously stated, the interna- stated before, tribal interference in the tional community still recognizes Abd politics and government scene is a con- Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and his govern- sisting element of governing in Yemen. ment as Yemen’s legitimate governmental representatives – even though the In March 2015 the Houthi / Saleh al- government stepped down and Hadi left liance captured a strategic military base into exile to Saudi-Arabia. The questions north of the port city of Aden and took are now, what kind of role do other the defense minister hostage. Rumor has states around Yemen play and why do it that President Hadi was preparing the they follow a certain strategy. division of the north and south into two states given that he would become Pres- Speaking of the role of international ident of the south. What followed can be political actors, it has to be considered considered as a race between northern that every state always pursues its own and southern movements, including ter- targets, including economic and securi- rorist groups that had already been sup- ty-political interests as well as intergov- ported by neighboring countries, to gain ernmental conflicts. This relates espe- control over the different regions. As a cially to the conflict between Saudi Ara- consequence, the President was forced bia and Iran that seems to have its roots to go into exile to Riad. However, the in religious and economic backgrounds, international community still considers but in fact is a matter of the fight for the government under Hadi as the offi- supremacy in the Middle East. In other cial government, regardless that an elec- words, who will establish itself as fore- tion was supposed to be held after two most regional power? The conflict be- years. Saudi Arabia entered the scene tween the Houthis and the government is and changed the path of transformation also seen as part of this regional power in another direction. struggle between Shia-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. The Houthis were blocking the governmental business and occupied im- Furthermore, Yemen is strategically portant institutions like the Central Bank important regarding its geographic loca- and the National News Agency. Conse- tion. Yemen is controlling the Bab al- quently, they destabilized further re- Mandab strait, a narrow waterway link- gions and paved the way for dangerous ing the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden armed forces, such as AQAP and ISIS. through which the world’s oil shipments Besides however, it also has to be con- pass. With this in mind, it might be easi- sidered that these groups have already er to understand the role of the interna- been operating in Yemen long time be- tional community in this situation.

56 ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 YEMEN ON THE VERGE OF TOTAL STATE COLLAPSE WHILE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY REMAINS SILENT

Thus all the international actors are conflict. Actually, Western states such as interested in recreating Yemen’s stabil- the US or European countries that have ity not only in order to pursue their aims supported UN efforts to end the conflict regarding development objectives, but in the first place, continued to supply also for economic and security-political weapons to Saudi Arabia and conse- interests. What happens in Yemen can quently participate indirectly in this greatly exacerbate regional tensions. bloody war as well. On the other hand, Iran is accused of supporting the Houthi In April 2014, the UN Security / Saleh movement with weapon supplies Council passed Resolution 2216, a one- and guidance. However, according to sided document that essentially called official statements, Iran is condemning for the Houthi / Saleh alliance to surren- the war in Yemen. In addition, supplies der. The Yemeni government and Saudi- couldn’t reach the Houthi controlled ar- led coalition have used it repeatedly to eas anyway because of embargos block- legitimate its military or rather violent ing the sea, air and land. intervention. The Saudis want to prevent the Shiite Houthi Group from taking over Generally speaking, the internation- the power on their southern borderlines al community, including the United at all costs. In addition, they pursue the States, Europe, the Saudi-led coalition aim to demonstrate their strength in and presumably Iran, seems to follow front of important countries like the US their own interests instead of trying to and distract both the international com- conclude a ceasefire and peace agree- munity as well as their own people from ment as soon as possible. Moreover, internal problems. Therefore they forci- after numerous rounds of peace talks bly started air strikes and occupations of and failed ceasefires, even the UN has the regions controlled by the Houthi, lost credibility with all sides. After all working together with national allies this fighting no side appears close to a and opposition tribes. decisive military victory. In fact, we are speaking of an inter- Continued fighting between these national alliance of states as mentioned groups, especially the Saudi-led coali- before, supported by Yemeni southern tion’s attempt to capture the Red Sea military forces and paid northern tribes ports among other things, stifling block- of Yemen that is fighting the Houthi / ades and unilateral moves will deepen Saleh movement without any significant intra-Yemeni divisions and deteriorate success. the humanitarian situation once more. To give an example, the risk of famine Despite the military campaign and has highly increased. blockades, pro-government forces have Moreover, it has to be stressed that been unable to dislodge the Houthi re- Saudi Arabia’s military approach does bels from their northern strongholds, not make any allowance to Yemen’s citi- including the capital Sanaa. They also zens. There is evidence that it has re- maintain a siege of the southern city of peatedly violated the laws of war by kill- Taiz and are not willing to surrender. ing non-combatants. This might be relat- Ending this war will require an agree- ed to the religious background of this ment that will end Saudi Arabia’s mili-

ARGUMENTE UND MATERIALIEN DER ENTWICKLUNGSZUSAMMENARBEIT 20 57 CHARLOTTE HOHMANN / SAID ALDAILAMI tary intervention, establish intra-Yemeni different views of southern groupings. negotiations to chart the country’s polit- On the one hand you can find propo- ical future and immediate ceasefire in- nents of the imminent renewed separa- side Yemen and along the Yemeni-Saudi tion of the south from the north. On the border – which, however, seems unlikely other hand there are movements that to happen right now. want to stick to the union or at least follow the legal way. Not least to mention To summarize, one of the major is- are terrorist groups like AQAP and ISIS sues that led to this confusing war, was coming from the northern borders in the violation of the basic principle of order to pursue their own targets which non-interference by the international are highly connected to territory inter- community, mostly neighboring states ests. that took side with a government that stepped down and a President in exile.30 Another conflict that arose again af- 31 32 ter years of peaceful co-existing and that must be remembered is the repeating Conclusion struggle between Sunni and Shiite groups which can be partly referred also To draw a conclusion, the following to Saudi-Arabia’s intervention. main problems / conflicts should be And finally there is the confronta- pointed out: tion between the poor north that is mainly depended on the tribal order of To begin with, the transition period, society and the rich south with its oil leading to this terrible war ignited an resources and its valuable waterway as old conflict between the north and south mentioned before. that was supposed to be settled in 1990 with the unification of the former sepa- These conflicts shaped the six years rated country. These north-south ten- after the “Arab Spring” in 2011. Yemen sions are based on regional affiliation has to face one of the world’s most criti- that even triggers hate between the re- cal social and security-political situa- gional groups. tions. Indeed, there is need for immediate action in order to prevent further The second conflict that characteriz- deterioration. The international commu- es Yemen’s current situation arose in- nity has to assume its responsibility and side northern groups, which means in- admit its part in the development of the ter-tribal problems rooted in economic current crisis. To achieve a long lasting interests. To clarify, this conflict can be settlement, neighboring countries and seen as a struggle between pro-Saudi the rest of the international community and contra-Saudi movements, consider- should help the main actors to promote ing the pro-Saudis as paid henchmen of intra-Yemeni negotiations that address the Saudi-led multinational coalition. especially unresolved issues, such as decentralization and the status of the Equally important is the third clash south as well as solutions for the human- that complicates the country’s deterio- itarian crisis. Moreover, further negotia- rating situation: This regards notably the tions should include actors beyond the

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Hadi government and the Houthi / Saleh the gradual starvation and extinction of alliance, such as the Sunni islamist party a whole nation will keep the country in a Islah, southern separatists, tribal group- situation of chaos and lack of govern- ings, Salafi groups and civil society or- ment structures for the next decades.34 ganizations including women’s groups. Only in this way, they might find an agreement and be able to recreate a kind || Charlotte Hohmann of stability. Finanz- und Verwaltungsassistentin, Büro Tunis In fact, the EU, including Germany and other international actors, are well || Dr. Said AlDailami qualified to rebuild the credibility of UN- mediated peace talks leading to a cease- Auslandsmitarbeiter Tunesien fire and settlement through foreign and development policies. Especially the EU should be able to mediate between the warring parties due to its widespread neutrality – despite some few countries that took bilateral positions. The mem- ber states should build on their efforts by focusing on securing a ceasefire and working on an improvement of the humanitarian crisis.33

However, recent projects in the course of development policy are focused on awareness campaigns: raising awareness of the population to participate in elections or raising awareness of society for women and gender issues. On the other hand, it is worth stressing that awareness-raising and training courses for Western decision-makers could be equally useful in order to let them be aware of the consequences of their decisions and non-decisions respectively. After all, they are part of the factors that determine the fate of these countries. However, they always play a role at the beginning and they seem to be left behind in the course of the dynamics that follow.

Even if the war would end tomorrow, the effects of the alliance’s strategy of

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REMARKS 30 Cf. Salisbury, Peter (2015). 31 Cf. Prof. Dr. Stahel, Albert A. (2015): Jemen: Krieg, 1 International Crisis Group (2015): Yemen at war, in: Genozid und Geopolitik, Strategische Studien, URL Briefing N° 45, URL https://www.crisisgroup.org http:// strategische-studien.com/2015/09/12/jemen- /middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/y krieg-genozid-und-geopolitik/ [28.03.2017]. emen/yemen-war [28.03.2017]. 32 Cf. Transfeld, Mareike (2017). 2 Cf. Transfeld, Mareike (2017): Kein Stellvertreterkrieg 33 Cf. International Crisis Group (2017). im Jemen, in: SWP-Aktuell, Stiftung Wissenschaft und 34 Cf. Prof. Dr. Stahel, Albert A. (2015). Politik, März 2017, S. 2. 3 Cf. International Crisis Group (2017): Yemen: A humanitarian catastrophe; a failing state, in: Watch List 2017, special report n° 3, URL https://www.crisisgroup.org/ middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/ yemen/yemen-humanitarian-catastrophe-failing-state [28.03.2017]. 4 Cf. BBC News (2017): Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom?, URL http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle- east-293 19423 [28.03.2017]. 5 Cf. Human Rights Watch (2017): Yemen Events of 2016, in: World report 2017, URL https://www.hrw. org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/yemen [28.03.2017]. 6 Cf. BBC News (2017). 7 Cf. International Crisis Group (2017). 8 Cf. Salisbury, Peter (2015): Federalism, conflict and fragmentation in Yemen, Saferworld Report, Executive Summary S. i. 9 Cf. LIPortal (2017): Jemen. Geschichte & Staat, Das Länder-Informations-Portal, URL https://www.liportal. de/jemen/geschichte-staat/ [28.03.2017]. 10 Cf. Salisbury, Peter (2015): S. 8. 11 Cf. Von Poser, Fabian (2001): Jemen. Wechselvolle Geschichte, in: FAZ Reise, URL http://www.faz.net/aktu ell/reise/jemen-wechselvolle-geschichte-123708.html [28.03.2017]. 12 Cf. Der Tagesspiegel (2010): Die unsichtbaren Mauern des Jemen, URL http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/ge schichten-von-einheit-und-teilung-die-unsichtbaren- mauern-des-jemen/1942340.html [28.03.2017]. 13 Cf. Salisbury, Peter (2015): S. 9. 14 Cf. LIPortal (2017). 15 Cf. Salisbury, Peter (2015): S. 9. 16 Cf. Ib.: S. 9. 17 Cf. Ib.: S. 10. 18 Cf. Al-Muslimi, Farea (2015): How Sunni-Shia sectarianism is poisoning Yemen, CARNEGIE Middle East Cen- ter, URL http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/62375?lang= en [28.03.2017]. 19 Ib. 20 Ib. 21 Cf. Heinze, Marie-Christine (2014): Jemen. Akteure, Faktoren, Szenarien, CARPO Center for Applied Re- search in Partnership with the Orient, Report, S. 7-20. 22 Cf. Laub, Zachary (2016): Yemen in crisis, CFR Back- grounders, Council on Foreign Relations, URL http://www.cfr.org/yemen/yemen-crisis/p36488 [28.03.2017]. 23 Cf. Sons, Sebastian, Heinze Marie-Christine (2015): Jemen, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, URL http://www.bpb.de/internationales/wetweit/innerstaat liche-konflikte/54611/jemen [28.03.2017]. 24 Cf. International Crisis Group (2015). 25 Cf. Transfeld, Mareike (2017). 26 Cf. International Crisis Group (2015). 27 Cf. International Crisis Group (2017). 28 Cf. Human Rights Watch (2017). 29 Cf. Sons, Sebastian, Heinze Marie-Christine (2015).

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