Escalating violence [Archives:2007/1027/Viewpoint]

Yemen presented a good example when the government created the dialogue committee to deal with fundamentalists and Al-Qaida affiliates in Yemen. Thousands of Yemeni youth were accused of being a part of this religious group, and the government decided it was best to open up channels of communication and try to understand where they were coming from instead of throwing them into prison and leaving open wounds to fester.

The Believing Youth in Sa'ada are no different. They are a religious sect who disagree with the governing system and have decided to take things into their own hands, hence the Al-Houthi insurgents. Although one of the fundamental differences between both groups is that Al-Qaida started off as a military group in Afghanistan while the Believing Youth, more commonly known as Al-Houthi, followers started off as a peaceful religious movement and only developed in to political group many years later.

It is not my intention to defend rebellious movements; I am, in fact, totally against defying the state by violent means. However, I would like to remind politicians in Yemen that violence breeds violence and the lesson learnt with Al-Qaida affiliates must be used in other similar conflicts.

Judge Hamood Al-Hitar who has led the Dialogue Committee, says that this method has proved successful because he allowed amply qualified scholars debate with the fundamentalists and finally convince them that what they are doing against the state is wrong. Today, many have again been integrated into society and are leading normal lives. The ones who would not yield were dealt with differently. However, the point is that they were given the chance to express their views and argue their beliefs, a thing that did not happen in Sa'ada. An initial truce had taken place one year ago, but was sadly broken by government security forces without any clear justification.

What is perhaps even more frustrating is that, according to government statistics, every day there are dozens of people killed in various tribal areas as a result of tribal conflicts. Strong tribes do not abide by the law, indeed they don't even acknowledge the authority of the government. They have their own regulations and even their own army. Everyday, a leaders of some Yemeni tribe acts against the governing system and actually implement their own rulings. Lands are confiscated, people are tortured and killed, homes are destroyed and money is taxed. The direction in which the situation in Sa'ada will now is potentially towards an endless cycle of crises where the city descends into chaos and people are driven from their homes and jobs only to become internally dislocated persons without compensation from the state. The second scenario is that the government actually crushes the group and repeats what Saddam Hussein has done with the Kurds in Northern Iraq.

Is that what we want? Is this a wise thing to do? I thought that Yemeni politicians had learnt from the past. We have gone through so many wars to date that I feel it is high time we think strategically in order that live in peace.
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