Yemen offers truce to Shia clans

[Heidi]

Source: BBC

Page last updated at 23:49 GMT, Friday, 4 September 2009 00:49 UK

Shia rebels have welcomed an offer by Yemen's government to suspend its military offensive in the north if the rebels agree to do the same.

A statement on the website of Yemen's ruling party said this was to allow aid agencies to help tens of thousands of people known to have fled their homes.

Locals in the Saada region say there has been no gunfire since the ceasefire took effect, AP reports.

The Shia rebellion against the Sunni government began in 2004.

Earlier this week Yemeni authorities rejected an offer of a truce from one rebel group, the Houthis, which it accuses of trying to spread a form of Shia fundamentalism.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8239374.stm

---

Earlier related Latest Breaking News discussion:
LAT: Fighting in Yemen escalates (Aug. 24, 2009)

[oct2010]

1. Shiites in Saudi Arabia discriminated against as "non-believers"(report by HRW)

In the kingdom of Saud, Shi'ites represent 10-15% of the population, and are always treated as second class citizens. The Islam followed in Saudi Arabia is the puritanical Wahhabi, Islam which regards Shia as a betrayal of Islam and the Shiites as the atheists, no different to members of other religions.

In fact Saudi Arabia the practice of any other religion except fundamentalist Sunni Islam is forbidden. Temples, churches, pagodas are prohibited, as well as public displays of religious objects and private religious gatherings.

In defending the rights of the Shiites, the HRW report, of approximately 35 pages, begins with an incident last February in Medina, where some Shiite pilgrims clashed with the religious police (Muttawa), who monitor the implementation of Wahhabism and social customs. Following these clashes, there were many protests and arrests.

Among the various forms of discrimination, the report cites in particular those in the education system and in the judiciary, where the Shiite witnesses are often excluded by the courts because of their religion. Since King Abdullah came to power, the influence of the muttawa has decreased and some glimmers of religious freedom are visible. But the relationship between Sunnis and Shiites goes beyond religious intolerance. It involves political problems and difficult relations between Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority countries such as Iraq and especially Iran.
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16234&size=A

some are more equal then others


and some are to be tolerated as best as possible with a hudna

[JCMach1]

2. Resistance to the Dictator/president, Saleh is growing

This is just one piece of a complicated puzzle that ends with the downfall of Saleh... sic temper tyrannis

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. I have read two compelling threads of thought on this

On the one hand, that the Huthi resistance is partly a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic, and secondly that flare-ups such as this are primarily a conflict of intrigue between Ali Muhsin (backed by Saudi Arabia) and Saleh (backed by, um Saudi Arabia) -- what are your thoughts on these aspects?

[JCMach1]

5. KSA backs Saleh because there is no alternative... Yemen IS

the Arabian peninsula's demographic problem which the oil rich states want to keep bottled-up.

The U.S. supports Saleh for the same reason.

I doubt whether there is much real Iranian support for the Houthi and other rebels.

However, there have been reports of DIRECT Saudi support (i.e. aircraft bombings) in the North.

Saleh will come down in the next few years and at the moment it doesn't seem like a soft landing. IF anything, it looks like we could be back to two states. A conservative north and a more secular, socialist south.

[oct2010]

3. Yemen army in heavy clashes with rebels (hudna not taken seriously but the free aid was .... )

Army tanks fire as armoured cars block entrances to narrow allies of old city in Yemen's Saada.


SANAA - Heavy clashes erupted between Yemeni troops and Shiite rebels in the rugged mountainous north on Sunday, military officials and witnesses said, two days after a short-lived truce collapsed.

Army tanks fired as armoured cars blocked the entrances to the narrow allies of the old city in Saada, stronghold of the Zaidi rebels seeking to end the current form of government, the officials said.

The rebels returned fire on the army from a hideout in a fortress overlooking the old town. Shops were closed and residents stayed indoors.

"They (the army and the rebels) clashed and the police halted all traffic. I was not able to get to work," Abdel-Qader, a clerk, told AFP by telephone.

The fighting intensified on Saturday, leaving dozens of people dead or injured in the north of Yemen, according to military officials.

On Friday, the government said it would observe a ceasefire in response to requests from aid agencies to help ensure the safety of civilians and to an offer from the rebels to cooperate in that effort.

But fighting resumed only four hours after the truce was declared.

snip


http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=34126

The truce was all about taking in western donations of aid packages but its anybodies guess were the goods ended up.

useful tools

[Posteritatis]

6. Yemen's actions with these guys is interesting

They often try to walk a softer line instead of the usual apocalyptic you-die-or-we-die stance a lot of people have towards fundamentalist militant types. If I remember correctly they had a fairly successful program a few years ago where, instead of simply trying captured militants, they put them in a room with an imam and, if the imam believed he convinced the militant that what he was doing was wrong theologicalyl and otherwise, they'd accept his parole. There wasn't that much in terms of recidivism.