Analysis

Analysis October 15, 2021 23:36 MIN New Networks in Women’s Peacebuilding By Fatima Mutaher The UN-led peace process to end the Yemen war has so far failed to meaningfully include women. Yet, women have made great contributions to peacebuilding during the war. New women’s networks and alliances have emerged; in some cases these have absorbed women seeking the protection of collective action, particularly in north Yemen where the armed Houthi movement has brutally targeted female activists. These new networks seek women’s participation in peace negotiations and peacebuilding, and to raise Yemeni women’s voices on international platforms. Other aims include addressing gender-based violence, mitigating the suffering of civilians, supporting prisoners and detainees and providing humanitarian relief. As well as forming new networks, Yemeni women have established initiatives, organizations and foundations during the war to foster… Continue reading Analysis October 13, 2021 06:03 MIN The Houthis’ Fatal Military Success By Abdulghani Al-Iryani Seven years into the Yemen war, nearly everyone has come to accept what was obvious from the start: foreign military interventions carry within them the seeds of their own failure. The arrogance of the intervening powers humiliates and demoralizes their local partners and clients. The intervening powers are often most comfortable dealing with the most compliant and easily manipulated of their local partners, thereby creating a selection process in which the least patriotic and the most corrupt often become the partners of choice. The arrogance of the intervening powers and the corruption of their local clients are frequently the two most powerful weapons in the arsenal of the parties resisting the intervention. This is the basic formula that has determined… Continue reading Analysis September 29, 2021 32:09 MIN Al-Qaeda’s Decline in Yemen: An Abandonment of Ideology Amid a Crisis of Leadership By Abdelrazzaq al-Jamal The decline of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen over the past five years was unexpected. Indicators in the years prior to the onset of the current conflict showed a group primed to expand its influence. The wave of protests against then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, and his subsequent resignation the following year, had left the country in disarray. A new president was at the helm and struggling with the ascending power of the Houthi movement. Conditions were thus favorable for AQAP to thrive amid the disorder and make inroads in Yemen outside its traditional areas of influence. Circumstances shifted in 2015, however, as AQAP was at the height of its power. In April of that year,… Continue reading Analysis September 14, 2021 25:13 MIN Taiz: A Hotbed of Irregular Militias By Khaled Farouq Yemen’s Taiz enjoys a strategic location, stretching from central Yemen to the Red Sea Coast, and extending south to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. The governorate has paid a heavy price during the past decade as a result of the turmoil that Yemen has experienced since 2011, when popular protests erupted against the former regime of late President Ali Abdullah Saleh. During the outbreak of the current conflict in 2014-15, Taiz witnessed the formation of the first factions of the armed resistance against the armed Houthi movement. The Houthis attempted to defeat what soon became known as the ‘Popular Resistance’, moving against Taiz in March 2015, as part of their desire to secure… Continue reading Analysis July 16, 2021 04:21 MIN Redefining What Peace in Yemen Means and How to Achieve it By Osamah Al Rawhani Yemenis are losing hope that the warring parties are capable of reaching a peace agreement that can pave the way for a new political transition process. Since the signing of the Stockholm Agreement in late 2018, the United Nations special envoy has failed to convince representatives of the warring parties to meet face-to-face and agree on a more comprehensive peace pact. Even intensive US-led efforts since early 2021 have so far failed to jumpstart the UN-led peace process. The failure of these top-down diplomatic efforts involving the highest levels of leadership from each faction – known as ‘Track 1’ negotiations – is made worse by the fact that they remain the go-to approach even as the country has continued to… Continue reading Analysis July 16, 2021 04:39 MIN The View from Iran after Raisi’s Election By Adnan Tabatabai Early this year, months before Iran held its presidential elections, significant security talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia were held in Baghdad. Security and military officials from both countries reportedly met at least three times. Little is known about the actual substance of the talks, other than that they involved Yemen-related affairs. But the composition of the delegations on each side suggests these talks were genuine and substantive. While it is inaccurate to view Iranian-Saudi tension as the sole driver of all armed conflict in the Middle East, peace talks between the two could go a long way toward solving some of the most pressing regional issues such as the war in Yemen, the situations in Syria and Iraq as… Continue reading Analysis July 5, 2021 09:26 MIN Shabwa’s Journey to the Center of a Regional Proxy Conflict By Farea Al-Muslimi In pre-Christian times, Yemen’s Shabwa region was the capital of three ancient Yemeni kingdoms: Qataban, Osan and Hadramawt. It possesses incredible geographic diversity, with a picturesque Arabian Sea coastline along with mountains and desert landscapes. It is home to powerful local tribes as well as to one of the most delicious organic honeys in the world. In recent decades, the remote governorate in southern Yemen has rarely been the subject of media attention, only occasionally making international news when a town falls into the hands of Al-Qaeda or an opportunity arises in oil and gas production. During the course of the ongoing conflict, however, Shabwa has become a microcosm of regional proxy conflict in Yemen. The interests, agendas and struggles… Continue reading Analysis June 24, 2021 21:17 MIN In Search of a Peacemaker Who Can Deliver In May the United Nations announced that Martin Griffiths, the UN’s special envoy to Yemen, would be stepping down to take a new position as under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. His successor, unnamed as of this writing, will be the fourth person to hold the position since Houthi forces entered Sana’a in September 2014. To mark this transition, the Sana’a Center asked five experts to reflect on Griffiths’ time leading the UN’s peace mediation efforts in Yemen and look ahead to the challenges awaiting the new special envoy. Martin Griffiths will soon end his tenure as the UN special envoy to Yemen to become UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. The UN made the announcement last month, following his May 12 briefing… Continue reading Analysis June 15, 2021 07:35 MIN In Focus: Return to Aden By Ghaidaa Alrashidy In February 2016, after 29 years in Aden, I left my city to live in another country. My mother asked me to leave because of the security situation. In the five years since I’ve returned three times – my latest trip home was earlier this year. The Yemeni poet Abdullah Al-Bardouni wrote about how a person leaves a part of her soul in her country and takes parts of her country into exile. I’ve thought about this every time I’ve come back. With each visit I had hoped to restore my memory of Aden, this city that I love above all cities. But each time I return I find I lose more and more of my soul. I feel like… Continue reading Analysis June 14, 2021 06:03 MIN What is Muscat Doing in Yemen? By Maged Al-Madhaji An Omani Royal Air Force aircraft landed in Sana’a on June 5. On the plane was a delegation from the Omani Royal Office, along with a number of Houthi officials, including the movement’s chief negotiator and spokesperson Mohammed Abdel Salam. During their time in the Yemeni capital the Omanis held meetings with senior Houthi leaders, including the movement’s head Abdelmalek al-Houthi, related to diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Yemen. The visit hints at the increasing pressure on Muscat to play a bigger role in pressuring the Houthis to agree to a deal to halt fighting in the country – an approach the Omanis have generally avoided for a long time. The flight would not have been permitted… Continue reading Analysis June 7, 2021 26:28 MIN UN-Backed Prisoner Swap Negotiations in Yemen Locked in Stalemate By Salah Ali Salah The latest round of United Nations-backed prisoner exchange negotiations, which took place in late January through mid-February in Amman between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and de facto authorities from the armed Houthi movement (Ansar Allah), collapsed after a month with no agreement reached. That the warring parties failed to reach a deal demonstrates that the prisoner file continues to be marred by technical and political issues. These problems must be overcome if the Yemeni parties and current UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, hope to make progress. UN-led negotiations have, thus far, failed to secure the release of conflict-related prisoners and detainees on the “all for all” basis agreed to in the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018. The agreement… Continue reading Analysis May 24, 2021 10:06 MIN Yemen’s West Coast: A look into politics, society and war along the Red Sea By Maged Al-Madhaji The Road to Mokha Arriving in Aden in early April, a week before the holy month of Ramadan began, the first thing that struck me was the general feeling of worry. A second wave of coronavirus was gripping the city, adding to fears related to security, internal conflict, the economic situation and the deterioration of public services. These challenges have increased public pressure on the Yemeni government; in mid-March, protesters stormed Maashiq Palace, the government’s headquarters in the interim capital. After the new power sharing cabinet was formed in December under the Saudi-brokered Riyadh Agreement, Saudi Arabia had promised to provide financial support to the government, but save for a US$422 million fuel grant for power stations announced on April… Continue reading