Another Yemen Times Fact-Finding in Taiz The Underlying Mystery of Qurada [Archives:1999/34/Last Page]

By: Imad Al-Saqqaf,
Taiz Bureau Chief, and
Farook Al-Kamali,
Yemen Times

Qurada has been center of discussion for the past few months in Taiz. Then spreading to all the governorates in Yemen. It is actually horrifying to consider the massive scale of destruction during the aftermath of the war. Qurada was a well populated village at Saber Mountain, In Taiz. It is now totally devastated and in ruins; buildings are destroyed, families are homeless and children are orphaned. What has actually happened is unbelievable and inhumane. We then wonder what the reason behind the dispute between Qurada and the Al-Marzooh village was. And we cannot help not ask “Why did the police security intervene in such an aggressive and hostile fashion?”
Qurada and Al-Marzooh are two villages on two opposite mountains at Saber Mountain, in Taiz. There is a small mountain between them a number of springs fall, the very reason behind their dispute. The people of Qurada use to make use of water which is collected in a tank from different springs. They use it to irrigate qat trees. The people of Marzooh has a spring which is 800 meter away from the tank of Qurada. In 1997, the people of Qurada received financial support from the Rural Electricity and Water Authority. Therefore, they started repairing the tank and the distribution net. This has made the people of Marzooh became afraid because it might affect their springfall located below the tank. 
Therefore, attempts were made to stop this project for example pipes were blown out and destroyed at night. As a result men from both villages started shooting at each other. The firing wounded two women and a child from Qurada. The police security in Taiz intervened and arrested the sheikhs of the two villages. Furthermore, the governor of Taiz sent sheikhs to the site to consider the amount of destruction and losses. Following that, the governor himself and chairman of the police security, paid a visit to the site to get a closer look and to find the truth behind the conflict. They realized that what was claimed by the people of Marzooh was not true. Therefore, the governor gave orders to continue the project of repairing the tanks and connecting pipes. 
While carrying out orders of the governor, under the supervision of chairman of the police security, a group from the people of Marzooh sneaked under the cover of darkness to blow out the machines and pipes of the project. This has put the governor of Taiz in fury so he sent many soldiers to arrest people of Marzooh in captive and to stay there for some time. Not only did they do that but they also slaughtered sheep and destroyed their qat trees and a great number of people became homeless. After AbduIlah Al-Kadi’s mediation, Army Commander of 33 brigade, convinced the governor of Taiz to withdraw the soldiers. 
On 21-5-99 the sheikhs of Qurada and Marzooh, imprisoned since the early dispute, agreed to the arbitration of the governor, chairman of the police security and Abdullah Al-Kadi to solve the problem. Shortly afterwards the sheikhs of Marzooh went back on their commitment to the arbitration of these figures, under the pretext that the arbitration is of no use to them. In November 98, a group of men from Marzooh broke the water pipes and exchanged fire with men from Qurada, in the presence of the chairman of the police security. This resulted in 4 injured men from Qurada and 3 from Marzooh. Firing continued in January 99 where 2 were shot dead and 4 were injured from Qurada, whereas one was killed and 5 were injured from Marzooh. 
After this, a campaign of arresting people from the two villages took place. In March 99, another group from Marzooh destroyed 8 water pipes while another military campaign began to take control and repair what had been destroyed. It is reported that what had made things intensify is that Abdullah Al-kadi, Brigadier General, asked the people and sheikhs of Qurada to accept his arbitration and to give him some weapons and a car as assurance. This happened after he had been given of 50 weapons and a car belonging to Abd Al-Momen Qurada, a sheikh in Qurada. When they disagreed on the articles of the arbitration, the people of Qurada refused to nominate him for the arbitration of water project. They wanted it to be restricted to the penal side. 
Therefore Al-Kadi, Brigadier General, started sending military forces towards Qurada, whose people tried to defend their village in the face of the conquerors. A heavy firing took place and resulted in the death and injuries of many people.
To be more sure about the last military campaign, we met with one of the people of Qurada who said: It all started by firing from some men of Marzooh when we tried to repair our water tank and pipes . Then two judges, Gassar Al-Adoof and Yahya Al-Aryani were asked to check the documents possessed by the two sides. After they checked what each side had, the verdict was that the claims of the people of Marzooh had no grounds and are just a pack of lies. However, Al-Kadi and other people who were exploiting this conflict for their personal interest were not satisfied with the judges’ verdict and tried to prove Marzooh’s right in the water of Qurada. He wanted to prove this because he has already transferred the springfall belonging to Marzooh to his house, located in Salah.
Then on 14-6-99 he started asking his soldiers to surround Qurada from the mountains above. A good number of military reinforcement with heavy weapons were coming in the days to come. Then a heavy and aggressive operations against Qurada took place, aimed at everything including the people, houses, water tanks, fields, water pipes, etc. All this was done to make the rule of the jungle prevail and connect water pipes to Marzooh. When the people of Qurada tried to resist, the firing became heavier. The firing lasted for weeks and the following outcomes occurred:
1- Qurada was captured by conquerors and was totally looted and plundered.
2- Most of the people became homeless and others were held in custody.
3- Heavy damages such as:
— More than 50 houses had been exposed to total and partial destruction, looting of everything inside them.
— Around 41 men were imprisoned in Al-Markazi Prison. Even Gameel Al-Samet, a journalist in Al-Gomhooriah newspaper, was put in prison because he wrote an article in Al-Wahdawi, which exposed the aggression against Qurada.
— A great number of people were injured and are now in hospitals. resulting in, a man being killed.
Following this aggression the people of Qurada made an appeal to consider the amount of destruction and losses. However, upon the forming of a committee from members of parliaments, the soldiers threatened the women to stay silent or the otherwise.
Yemen Times also met with one of the wounded soldiers in this conflict who said: The people of Qurada had already evacuated their houses and inhabited the mountain overlooking their village before we arrived there, upon our arrival they opened fire. Therefore, we were resorted to using force. In regards to looting houses, this happened after the village was evacuated and some soldiers started getting into houses and stealing whatever they found. Of course, not all of them stole items. 
I was one of those who objected to that, but some were very determined to do that, there was no one to stop them. Some qat trees were also destroyed by mistake. A matter of fact we could easily notice that there were some newspapers which exaggerated the problem and tended to make mountains out of a molehill. For example, there were some newspapers that indicated that there were approximately 25 men killed in this war to the contrary, only one person died and it still unclear how he died. Among the soldiers two were killed and approximately 16 were injured. There was also a committee formed after the withdrawal of soldiers from Qurada. It consisted of Sadek Al-Dabab, Abd Al-Rahman Ahmad, Ahmad Gamel to turn over those who blocked the way and were behind opening fire against the police.
Yemen Times also met with Sadek Al-Dabab who said: We have done a lot to reach an end to this problem, including contacting both sheikhs of both villages who agreed on solving the problem peacefully. Regarding the conflict with the police we agreed that we are going to turn over those who opened fire against the police and those who are in prison will be set free, some of them have already been released from jail. In regards to last development of this problem we are waiting for the arrival of the governor of Taiz from Germany to settle down everything . Regarding the destroyed houses we will hold the suspected soldiers and they will be accounted for.
Yemen Times has also tried to contact Chairman of the Security Police, in Taiz, who refused to give any comment under the pretext of the “not-to-tell” on higher hidden code. He said that if we want to get any information, we have to contact the Interior Minister.
All of the above mentioned is actually a survey of the “POOR QURADA” from the viewpoint of the people of Qurada and as well as the police. However, we wonder what will be the spirit of the law to whatever happened there! In order to be more certain about what happened we met with Dr. Mohammed Ahmad Al-Mekhlafi, a teacher of law at Sanaa university who said: Whatever happened in Qurada is a sure sign of the prevailing of the law of the jungle. As far as the law is concerned, we find that these actions are banned in our institution. The government has to protect citizens – not to frighten them, to save their lives – not to kill them, to guard their possessions – not to blackmail and blunder them and to maintain order – not to violate it. No one should be arrested unless proven to be guilty. 
Taking or better say, plundering their possessions and engaging in aggressive and hostile actions against them as well as their families is a flagrant violation of the law and the constitution. All that parties engaged in such actions either those who gave orders or those who carried out these orders, have to be punished for their actions. Regarding the killing of people by the hands of those who are supposed to protect lives is in fact a crime against humanity. The Qurada issue is not an abnormal case for the practices of some factions of the police. It is an issue that renders us a practical proof that the government of Yemen is still living in the era of ignorance. This asserts and the prevalence of the law is of the first priority and we all have to be fully committed to it.
The last comment we in the Yemen Times would like to say is that the reservation of Chairman of the Security Office in Taiz was very daunting, not only to us but it also shows total disrespect of the law. We do not know actually the real reasons behind that. Is it because our government is always chicken-livered of the facts or what?
By and all, the Qurada wound will continue bleeding in our country and this was not the first time it happened, nor will it not be the last as we are living in a jungle and not in a law-maintaining country. As a final word, we would like to say, that the government and police have “to protect people and preserve their rights and not to kill them!”
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