• Country/entity

  Yemen
  

• Region

  Middle East and North Africa
  

• Agreement name

  Letter to Presidential Mediation Council on Terms of Ceasefire from Sheikh al-Hajuri

• Date

  11 Jan 2014

• Agreement status

  Unilateral document

• Interim arrangement

  Yes

• Agreement/conflict level

  Intrastate/local conflict ( Yemeni Civil Wars (1994) (2011 - ) )

• Stage

  Ceasefire/related

• Conflict nature

  Inter-group

• Peace process

  Yemen Inter-group Agreements

• Parties

  Sheikh Yahyā bin ‘Alī al-Hajūrī, Head of the Dar al-Hadith Madrassa in Dammaj.

• Third parties

  Presidential Mediation Council (recipient of the letter)

• Description

  Five point letter providing the conditions for the evacuation of the Dar al-Hadith Madrassa under al-Hajuri following sustained clashes with Ansar Allah (Houthi militias) in the area (approximately 6 months). The five points highlight the need for the evacuation of the students of the school within 4 days; a helicopter for al-Hajuri; reparations from the state for the loss of property and land; resettlement to Hudaydah governorate.

• Agreement document

  YE_140111_Letter from Sheikh al-Hajuri on Terms of Ceasefire_EN.pdf | Download PDF

• Agreement document (original language)

  YE_140111_Letter from Sheikh al-Hajuri on Terms of Ceasefire_AR.pdf | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

• Process type

  Isolated example
  

• Rationale

  While there is a more general practice of local agreements between the Houthis and other groups at this time, this type of letter agreement following a ceasefire is a distinct or isolated example in the sense it is by one party to a mediator of a previous agreement. It could however also be considered as part of this broader culture of the time of local peace agreement-making due to the issues the letter seeks to address.

• Is there a documented link to a national peace process?

  Yes

• Link to national process: articulated rationale

  The local ceasefire agreement between Ansar Allah (Houthis) and the Salafists of the Dar al-Hadith Madrassa in Dammaj which precedes this agreement was mediated by the Presidential Mediation Council. In this context, the link would be inferred by the involvement of this state body acting as a mediator, which this agreement in the form of letter is addressed to. The provisions of this agreement also refer to the safe conditions which are necessary in order to implement both the safe evacuation of the students and the infrastructural guarantees which are an extension of the original ceasefire agreement, in this way reference to the 'state' and 'the council' implicitly refer to the function of the national body, and its role as an enforcer of the related ceasefire agreement/process. Page 1, 4. That we will be compensated with whatever the council and the state deems appropriate, god save them, to build some mosques, houses, wells, and health clinics. Page 1, 5. Fair compensation for losses of the war in terms of possessions, homes, and recognition of the martyrs of Dammaj as accounted to the state , and care and treatment for all those wounded during the first quarter of this year.

• Name of Locale

  Dammaj Valley (Town)

• Nature Of Locale

  Other

• GPS Lat/Long (DD)

  16.886860, 43.814555

• Participant type

  Local community/civilian group(s)/civil society organisations
  

• Mediator, facilitator or similar

  Mediator or similar referred to

  Mediator (references)

  Type of mediator/facilitator/similar

  Unclear/Other

Local issues

In the name of Allah, the Beneficial, the Merciful

Praise be to Allah and I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and peace and blessings be upon the messenger of Allah.

Based on the words of Allah Almighty, ((and fitnah is worse than killing)) and the messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:

((that is good for those who have suffered fitnah)), we put to the venerated mediation council, Allah save them, the following:

1. Cessation of the war;

removing the Houthi threat from us;

breaking the siege;

and a body exchange.

2. Grant a period of four days and nights in which I – and any of my students who so desire – can prepare our affairs for leaving Dammaj for al-Hudayadah governorate, and [grant that] we may leave safely with our belongings with the guarantee of the council, and kindly send a helicopter to transfer me with a mediation council escort, and [that] the state assumes responsibility for all the costs of transporting the students and the teachers, as well as their furniture and possessions.

The provision of appropriate transport to the point where the Sheikh Yahya bin ‘Ali al-Juhuri and his students reside, with their families, all their affairs and weapons of different kinds.

3. We want a guarantee from the Houthis endorsed by both the mediators and by the President that wherever I and my brothers settle, the Houthis will not harm us, nor will they harm the townspeople remaining in Dammaj, and [we want a guarantee on] the continuation of the house of the hadith in Dammaj.

4. That we will be compensated with whatever the council and the state deems appropriate, god save them, to build some mosques, houses, wells, and health clinics.

5. Fair compensation for losses of the war in terms of possessions, homes, and recognition of the martyrs of Dammaj as accounted to the state , and care and treatment for all those wounded during the first quarter of this year.