Tribal vengeance and the far powerful government [Archives:2002/24/Front Page]

An official report by the Shura council revealed that the victims of tribal vengeance in three provinces during last year were put at 15520. The report prepared by the Tribal Vengeance Committee (TVC) at the Shura council said tribal sheikhs have more influence than judiciary. The report said tribal vengeance wars claimed the lives of 610 in Sanaa, 581 in Dhamar and 361 in Al-Baida last year. It pointed out that only 20% of such problems are being dealt with in courts while the rest are at the hands of tribal influential figures.
Other governorates have not yet submitted their reports on tribal vengeance wars to the TVC.
The Shura council discussed last week this serious question of tribal vengeance, which represents Yemenis major headache. The council presented its recommendation on solving this problem to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It suggested that cease-fire is to be announced among all warring tribes so as to be able to tackle intricate and sophisticated issues of tribal vengeance.
President Saleh ordered the Shura council last year to focus on this issue.
A number of the Shura councils members pointed out that there are major reasons behind this problem. Firearms are commonly at the hands of the people as it is estimated that there are over 60 million pieces of different types of weapons in Yemen. Governments control over some areas is very loose and its power is not felt by people. The judicial system is corrupt and peoples problems take a lot of time to be settled. People spend tens of years at courts.
The power of law is not there at all as influential figures could interfere to cripple the enactment of the law. The people at the power centers who are themselves members of the tribal fabric work to enhance the tribal norms. They legislate and pass laws at the house of the representatives but in practice they apply their fossilized norms.
These factors all help the problem exacerbate and to solve the problem, they should come to an end. Abdulaziz Abdulghani, speaker of the Shura council admitted that tribal vengeance is the most sophisticated headache in Yemen. He said it was a major determent of development drive as it showed a sense of insecurity.
Shura representatives believe government should be very strict and deal with the problem seriously, criminalize the act and put an end to the carrying of firearms. Government should also be strong, enact the law and the order, and bring security and justice to all people equally.
The city of Sanaa has witnessed several times showdown clashes between tribesmen who came from different places to settle their scores there. In most of the cases, victims were innocent people who had nothing to do with the problem. Such problems of the tribal vengeance might continue for three or four decades leading to further violence and killings. The main cause of the problem might be forgotten leading to the sort of vengeance and counter vengeance.
The problem needs a nation-wide awareness towards the dangers of such social problems. However, this can not do unless the government is serious to put an end to uproot this problem.

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