As fight escalates in Sa’ada, dozens killed daily in fight with rebelsOpposition demands fact-finding committee [Archives:2005/832/Front Page]
Mohammed Al-Qadhi
Sana'a, 9 Apr.-While fierce fighting between government troops and loyalists to the slain anti-US cleric Hussein al-Houthi is still flaring up, the Yemeni government welcomed Friday an initiative offered by the opposition parties to delegate a fact- finding committee to the governorate of Sa'ada in an attempt to reach a cease-fire. “We welcome the initiative to field a committee set up of parliament, consultative council and political parties members to Sa'ada to investigate into the ongoing events there,” an official source told state-run Saba news agency.
He said that out of concern to stop bloodshed, the proposed committee could try again to persuade Badreddin al-Houthi to give himself in to the authorities along with his outlaws and stop attacking government institutions and security and military personnel.
In a statement, the Joint Meeting Opposition parties called on the parliament to take up its constitutional responsibilities towards the ongoing fighting in Sa'ada. It demanded that a committee capable of conducting impartial and fair investigations into the events should be set up; including members from all political forces and jurists who can tell the public the truth about what is going on, trying to sort these problems out, putting solutions for their devastating consequences.
These parties also condemned the use of force away from the law and all sorts of extremism-ethnic- dogmatic, sectarian, family, calling upon all people to abide by constitution and law. “Braking the constitution and law will lead to further breakdowns in the society, harming its national unity and integration and opening up doors for foreign interferences,” the statement said.
The statement stressed that the unity, stability, sovereignty and independence of the country is the responsibility of everybody, warning the government against lack of transparency in dealing with security issues. “The escalations of the unfortunate and grave development of the events in Sa'ada which erupted in no less than a year since the Muran fight and which comes as its follow-up, makes it clear fruitlessness of the measures adopted by the government in tackling this issue.”
An official source announced Friday evening that another round of negotiation with al-Houthi supporters had started. This has come just after few hours of government announcement that negotiations have failed.
The state-run Saba news agency quoted a local official in Sa'ada province as mentioning the latest army onslaught came after a mediation committee set up on request of President Ali Abdullah Saleh failed to persuade the rebels to surrender.
The panel, made up of Muslim scholars, tribal chieftains and other prominent figures, “failed to convince Badreddin al-Houthi and his rebel supporters to turn themselves in and cease carrying out subversive acts and attacks against government and public facilities, as well as security and military targets,” the official said.
He said the committee was unable to broker a solution despite promising the rebels safety because of the “obstinacy” of Houthi and his men, and their “refusal to respond to efforts to stop bloodshed and end the strife they started in the area.” However, other tribal sources held the two sides responsible for thwarting any efforts to stop the fighting.
Official source admitted that members of the Faithful Youth infiltrated into the city of Sa'ada Friday morning and started attacking security and military men and positions. It said that the fight claimed the lives of seven soldiers and 19 rebels while seven soldiers were wounded and five fighters arrested. However, tribal sources told Yemen Times that the tens of al-Houthi supporters sneaked into the city around 3 o'clock after midnight on Friday, taking over some buildings, including a hospital, and started attacking security men. He said that the government troops were forced to use heavy weapons to counterattack the rebels' strongholds. The guerilla fight which continued until 2 o'clock afternoon claimed, according to tribal sources, lives of over 70 people from both sides. Eyewitnesses told Yemen Times that dead bodies were dragged in streets of the city. Official source said that the troops could capture big amounts of various sorts of weapons with the rebels.
For three continuous days, since Wednesday, Sa'ada underwent fierce fights between the two sides. Apart from the undetermined number of government forces which fell in the clashes of the last two days, over 150 people have been reported killed in the two days of fierce clashes. Dozens more have been injured on both sides.
The death toll has mounted to over 300 as the two sides have been locked in combat since March 28.
“Dozens of troops were killed or wounded, particularly when counter-terrorism units parachuted onto mountain tops overlooking the rebels' strongholds in Razamat and Wadi Nushur (Nushur Valley) on Thursday,” tribal source said.
Yemeni troops have been pounding Houthi loyalists with artillery and tank fire since Wednesday night trying to force them to surrender, witnesses in the area said.
The sources said government forces stormed rebel positions with artillery and tank fire in Razamat, Wadi Nushur and Al-Shafia, wresting out control of the outposts.
Government forces are also trying to track down ground commanders of the rebels from the Faithful Youth movement, chiefly Abdullah al-Razami, Yussef al-Madani and the preacher's brother Abdul Malak.
Besides, the state-run al-Thawara Daily attacked in its editorial Saturday the al-Haq and Popular Forces Union party, accusing them of breaking the law and working on dogmatic bases. It demanded that the two parties should be held accountable for breaking the law in their activities.
The fierce battles are raising concerns about the humanitarian situation. A number of families have fled their homes because of the raids on their areas where the rebels are hiding. Local hospitals are not able to accommodate the causality rate mounting everyday. This situation has forced people to quit the area in the look out for safer places.
International organizations operating in Yemen are closely watching the situation, waiting for a signal from the government to take an action and help alleviate the suffering of the people, falling victims for stupid decisions. UN office in Sana'a is consulting with Yemeni authorities to see what role the UN agencies in Yemen can offer. “We are consulting with the Yemeni authorities to help relieve the situation there in Sa'ada. We are waiting to have a sense of the situation and to get an action sooner,” UN Resident Coordinator, Flavia Pansieri told Yemen Times. She has expected that all UN agencies operating in Yemen will hand over their help to the people in Sa'ada. Those agencies include the WFP, WHO, UNICEF which did offer their help to the people in there following fight stop in September 2004.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is at this stage observing the situation. “We are at the ICRC at this stage following closely and trying to get a clear idea about the situation. We offered our services to the Yemeni authorities,” Ronald Ofteringer, Communications Delegate at the ICRC office in Sana'a told Yemen Times.
The local and international humanitarian organizations are concerned that the eruption of the fight will hamper the efforts and assessment evaluation reports they have been carrying out on the needs caused by the first fight. “We have helped after the stop of the first fight by sending WHO emergency kits which cost $26,000. We sent drugs, emergency equipment and other things. After that nutrition assessment study of the WHO has been carried out. Unfortunately, it was not finalized before the eruption of the fight now,” Hashim al-Zain, Resident Representative of the World Health Organization office in Sana'a told Yemen Times.
The Yemeni authorities accused the slain Hussien al-Houthi, who was a former member of parliament in 1993 representing al-Haq Islamic party, of fomenting sectarian strife in the country throughout his militant organization, campaigning around the country as well as instigating the dogmatic and
sectarian turbulence in a society wherein both the Shiites and a majority
Sunni sects lived in harmony for hundreds of years, getting a foreign support to reach this goal. But, he then denied such allegations and said that the conflict with the authority was a result of his anti-US stand. During the main weekly prayers each Friday, Houthi followers used to chant slogans against Israel and the United States and call for a boycott of American goods. However, the authorities, who even accused some foreign parties of supporting al-Houthi, arrested hundreds of his followers and said that it was difficult to convince them give up their fanatic views.
The minister of interior Rashad al-Alimi told the parliament last July that the “activities of al-Houthi started in 1997 through setting up some unlicensed religious centers in Sa'ada which then spread in other governorates,” He added that the man established an armed secret organization which split from al-Haq party given the name of “al-Shabab al-Mum'en”. He said that some militants of the organization receive monthly salaries ranging between $50 to $200 which shows that there are some foreign forces behind it, which the minister did not define.
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