Gvt & Marib tribes make deal [Archives:2005/864/Front Page]
Hassan Al-Zaidi
Marib- After intensive meetings, a deal was reached between the government and the Marib tribes, to solve the problem of the blockage of the cooking gas caravans route, to the capital and other parts of the Republic in the wake of the last riots. The negotiations resulted in the lift of the armed tribal check points. An agreement was reached, that there should be no assault on the tankers that carry the cooking gas from Mareb to the different governorates.
The president met with a number of the tribal chiefs, after which A grant of diesel for the farmers of Marib was declared. The diesel price was reduced from Yr. 900 to700.
Fierce fighting broke out last week between the tribesmen and the government forces when the government tried to force its way through the tribal barricades. These conflicts resulted in killing some of the drivers of the petrol tankers. A government soldier was also reported dead, in addition to a number of casualties.
The blockage of the high way between Sana'a and Marib led to a sharp cooking gas crisis in the capital and the other Yemeni cities.
There is still a careful caution that a conflict could be renewed because of the refusal of some of the tribes of the deal.
The tankers are still subjected to night attacks especially between Saffir and Marib. This made the government adopt the method of convoying the tankers. This is a method of moving the tanks in a big caravan of about two hundred petrol tankers at a time. They are being escorted by military units. The tankers are prevented from moving at night.
The convoying method had hampered the traffic between Sana'a, Marib and other four eastern governorates. The military tanks are still deployed in a state of alert in the streets of Marib.
Groups of citizens in Marib were seen carrying their weapons wandering in the streets of Marib down town. The government had banned carrying weapons inside the towns, during the few last months, but this habit is resumed after the late incidents. The government is cautious in declaring a curfew, for fear of the renewal of the clashes, as it happened three months ago between the tribesmen and the army.
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