Gulf | Yemen
Refugees in Yemen caught in the crossfire
The refugees at the Al Mazrak camp, west of the northern Sa'ada province in Yemen, have borne the brunt of the civil strife
- By Nasser Arrabyee, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:00 October 30, 2009
- Image Credit: Nasser Arrabyee, Gulf News
- UN goodwill ambassador Mahmoud Kabeel listens to students in a class at the camp.
For Yemen's internally displaced persons (IDPs) caught in the crosshairs of government and rebel forces there is no end in sight to their misery. Although President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised recently that the war would be over "in days", Yemen's civilians seem to be a forgotten lot and the humanitarian situation in the country is becoming worse by the day.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, are suffering hunger and thirst, and the lack of shelter and health care. And the makeshift camps they are staying in are disorganised.
I visited the Al Mazrak camp in the far west of Sa'ada — one of five camps established to receive displaced people from the areas along the western front line in Al Malahaid, where rebels tried to take over a highway to severe the link between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Al Mazrak, which accommodates about 8,000 displaced people, was the only camp the United Nations would permit me to visit, since the other four were considered too dangerous.
The people in Al Mazrak complained of the lack of amenities. Some did not have tents, while others who did were constrained for space. The people had access to water but there were no bathrooms or kitchens. Yahya Ahmad Morshid, a 55-year-old camp resident, pointed to an area where clothes were hung from three pieces of wood. "This is [our] bathroom," he said.
Before escalation of the conflict, Morshid lived in Al Malahaid where he sold qat in the market for a living. He has 11 children and two wives but at the Al Mazrak camp they had only one tent.
"We heard firing ... The Al Houthi came down the mountains shouting ‘death to America, death to Israel and victory to Islam'," Morshid said. "We were shocked."
Morshid had not expected the rebels to come to his area because government troops were in control of Al Malahaid before August 10. "I immediately gathered my wives and children in my pickup truck," he said. The rebels fired at his house as he drove away. After a few kilometres Morshid noticed that one of his tyres was punctured. But he continued to drive until the vehicle stopped. "My wives carried the small children and trekked in the heat until we reached the camp."
At the entrance to the Al Mazrak camp there is a school. The institution, which had about 200 students, now has about 940. The student numbers burgeoned upon the opening of the camp.
Egyptian artist and UN goodwill ambassador Mahmoud Kabeel visited the camp recently and observed the conditions at the school and the health and food situation in the camp.
Health care access at the camp was atrocious. Ali and Mughnia, twins aged 15 months, arrived at the camp with diarrhoea. "The health situation is getting worse, especially among children. Ali and Mughnia are just examples of what the whole camp is facing," said Chariotta Land, an emergency child protection officer for Save the Children, a US-based humanitarian organisation.
"There are about 40 cases in this camp similar to that of Ali and Mughnia," Land said. "They need to be taken to the capital for better treatment or they will die."
Kabeel was able to take the twins and their mother to Sana'a after he persuaded the authorities to help.
As I walked through the rest of the camp I noticed an elderly couple watching the visiting journalists closely.
Tanan Allaw, 90, and his wife Shueyah Mubarak, 70, were crying as we walked by. They had arrived at the camp a month ago but were yet to be given a tent. Perhaps they thought we could help them out.
Allaw was able to walk only with the support of his wife. They were staying in the tent of their relative during the day but at night they had to wrap themselves in blankets and sleep on the ground in the open.
The journey from Al Malahaid to the camp takes about one hour by car or a day on foot.
Owing to their condition and age, Allaw and Mubarak walked for three days to reach the camp after their house in Al Malahaid was destroyed.
Hamid Ali Ahmad, 25, supported his five-member family operating a taxi. But after the war broke out in August, a group of government soldiers paid him for a trip to the local market at Al Husama on the border with Saudi Arabia. On the way Al Houthi rebels attacked the vehicle, killing one soldier. The others escaped. "Only my 6-year-old son Salem and I remained in the car," Ahmad said.
He drove the car towards his house in Al Husama. The Al Houthi followed, shouting "death to America, death to Israel, victory to Islam", which has become their slogan. They fired at his car, killing Salem.
Ahmad stayed with his son until the child breathed his last and then escaped to Saudi Arabia. "I spent a few days in Saudi Arabia with men who, like myself, had escaped the Al Houthi," he said. "I was worried sick about my wife and two daughters waiting for me at home with no idea about what had happened to me."
Nevertheless, Ahmad got word from some relatives that his wife and daughters were already at the Al Mazrak camp and returned to Yemen to be with them.
"Now I have nothing. I had only my car. I want it now to support my family, I don't even have clothes, I have just borrowed this Jambia," Ahmad said, pointing to a traditional dagger at his waist.
The Al Mazrak camp has about 8,000 IDPs. More than 60,000 people have fled their homes in Sa'ada since the war broke out in August.
The UN estimates the number of IDPs since the war in 2004 at 150,000. It says it needs about $24 million to help the IDPs over the coming four months. About $10 million was already pledged by many donors such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
There are four IDP camps besides Al Mazrak but relief organisations cannot reach them because of the fighting.
The camp of Alab far north of Sa'ada recently received relief assistance from UN agencies in Saudi Arabia.
The camp in the Houthi area south of Sa'ada is in a dangerous situation because the rebels have attacked the camp as part of their attempts to attack troops based in Harf Sufyan.
The fourth camp is inside Sa'ada city and receives assistance only from the Yemeni government and some local people.
Bearings of a conflict
In June 2004, Hussain Badr Al Deen Al Houthi started an armed rebellion against the state. The slogan of his armed movement was: "Death to America, death to Israel, curse to Jews and victory to Islam." However, Hussain was killed by the Yemeni army about three months later, bringing the first round of fighting to an end. The government accused Hussain of seeking to restore the clerical Zaidi-Shiite rule, which was overthrown in 1962 after more than 1,000 years in power. The Zaidi-Shiite Imams, or rulers, such as Hussain, claimed they had a divine right to rule. However, Hussain did not say this publicly. He said he wanted to protect the Zaidi-Shiite sect from the Saudi-supported Salafi-Wahabi sect which, he said, tried to spread all over the country at the expense of the Zaidi-Shiites. Hussain accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh of supporting the Salafi-Wahabi against him, although he himself was Zaidi. In 2005, the war resumed between the rebels — led by Hussain's brother Abdul Al Malek Al Houthi and the government troops. One of the most important reasons for the second round of war was a statement by the 80-year-old spiritual leader and father of Hussain and Ahmad, Badr Al Deen Al Houthi. He said at the time that rule must be confined to the descendants of Al Hassan and Al Hussain, the two sons of Ali Bin Abi Taleb, the first Imam and companion of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Al Houthis claimed they were descendants of Al Hassan and Al Hussain and they must rule.
Despite mediation from within and without to resolve the conflict it continued in bouts — third, fourth and fifth — and after each round of war, the Al Houthi rebels appeared stronger and more experienced at fighting in the rugged and mountainous areas of Sa'ada.
On July 17, 2008, President Ali Abdullah Saleh unilaterally announced the halt of the fifth round of war, saying it would stop forever. He promised to allocate 10 billion riyals ($50 million) for the reconstruction of war-affected areas of Sa'ada and called upon the world, especially Gulf countries, to contribute towards the establishment of a fund to support the reconstruction process.
On August 10, however, the war resumed for the sixth time and it seemed different from all the previous rounds. The support for the government from within Yemen, the region and other quarters of the world appeared to be much more than ever before. Most Yemenis with sympathies to Al Houthis as wronged against and ignored, changed their minds when they saw the rebels trying to block the highway between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and trying to control Midi's harbour by opening the new front line of Al Malahaid, far west of Sa'ada, in this sixth war. Midi is the harbour through which Al Houthis are accused of receiving Iranian support.
The government this time is determined to crush the armed rebellion even if it takes years. It has set five conditions for the rebels to abide by if they want to end the war and return to dialogue and political solutions. The most important of these conditions is that the rebels must come down the mountains and hand over their weapons.
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