Tribal Vengeance Claims 5 lives [Archives:2001/19/Local News]

Five people were killed in Sana’a last Thursday in a vengeance clash between tribesmen from Abu Nashton and Al Al-Faqeh tribes. Eyewitness told Yemen Times that a group of armed tribesmen came in a four wheel drive car and sprayed bullets when it stopped at a traffic light at the Saba intersection. As a result five men were killed, one of them was a passerby who happened to be there. The eyewitness said the incident was a tribal retaliation of a similar act which occurred 10 years back. Police were not able to capture the assailants.
There was a public outrage over this heinous retaliation crime which the government failed to stop for so long a time and prohibit gun carriers. Observers believe the unrestricted ownership of weapons among people is the key factor behind such lawless acts that have very often been taking place in Sanaa, in particular. They add that the parliament should pass the law that puts a ban on the carrying of weapons which was presented by the government in 1997. The law has been pushed under the carpet by some influential shiekhs in the parliament as it grants the Ministry of Interior the right to confiscate the illegal weapons.
According to statistics of the Interior Ministry, people in Yemen have over 60 million weapons i.e. every person has got about three. This has increased the rate of crime and violence committed daily in cities and the suburbs.
Incidentally, President Ali Abdullah Saleh met the members of the Shura Council and other senior officials in the government last Thursday. He told them to prioritize tackling the issue of vengeance and work hard to sort it out. For this, the Ministry of Interior is training 400 policemen to intensity security in the capital. These personnel will be working around the clock and will be given advanced training in field strategies for three months.

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