Country/entity

Yemen

Region

Middle East and North Africa

Agreement name

Agreement between Yafa’ai tribe security belt members and Lahj governorate officials to protect the roads

Date

22 Mar 2018

Agreement status

Multiparty signed/agreed

Interim arrangement

Yes

Agreement/conflict level

Intrastate/local conflict

Yemeni Civil Wars (1994) (2011 - )

The Republic of Yemen was formed in May 1990 after the merger between the Yemeni Arab Republic (YAR) in the north and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) in the south. The unification process was rushed and the final agreement between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and President Ali Salem al-Beidh was based on the imperfect promise of equality. Following the merger, integration of the militaries and civil services was at best incomplete or at times entirely non-existent. When Saleh’s General Congress Party (GPC) allied itself with the newly created Islamist Islah (‘reform’) party in 1993, the former ruling party of South Yemen – the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) – was effectively side-lined in the 1993 General Elections. Violence involving the use of heavy weaponry and aerial bombardment erupted in April 1994 and on the 21 May 1994 Vice President al-Beidh declared the secession of the south, citing political centralization with the northern highland tribes, violence against the YSP and economic discrimination. In the midst of fighting, negotiations in Cairo, Egypt, collapsed. The war ended with the military victory of the north, and on the 1 October 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected President.

Despite the unification of Yemen in 1990, political power during the 1990s and 2000s remained centralized with the northern highland tribes, particularly the villages from which President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his confidants stemmed. The system of clientelism established through the ruling General People’s Congress party maintained relative loyalty among the fractured political allegiances of Yemen’s traditional tribal leadership. However, diminishing oil reserves and the shrinking opportunities for access to rent increased economic and political marginalization in Yemen’s peripheral communities. The degree of regionalism of conflicts is further defined by other local grievances. In the northern governorate of Sa’dah, a backlash was provoked among the local Zaydi Shi’a against Sunni Salafist cultural incursions resulting in six wars between 2004 and 2010. In the southern governorates of Hadramawt, Shabwa, al-Dhali and Abyan, civil and military personnel forcibly retired after the 1994 Civil War began protesting and eventually formed the secessionist Southern ‘al-Hiraak’ movement in 2007. Furthermore, tribal grievances have spurred attacks on oil companies and government installations to extract rents. Various takfiri groups including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have also increased their presence since 1995.

The Yemen Spring in early 2011 allowed all these movements to express their joint displeasure. Moreover, factionalism in the regime split the already weak military and thus allowed the Houthis, the takfiris and tribal-based militia known as popular committees, to assert themselves militarily. Mandated by the UN-sponsored Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative, the National Dialogue held from March 2013 to January 2014 aimed at guaranteeing power-sharing among the different parties. However, the GCC Initiative only included formal political parties that did not accurately reflect political realities. Furthermore, provisions lacked adequate transitional justice and provided former-President Saleh, as well as others, full amnesty. As a result, little faith was placed in the process by formerly marginalized groups such as the Zaydi Shia Houthi rebels (Ansar Allah) and al-Hiraak who opted to increase their bargaining power vis-à-vis the state by strengthening their own territorial enclaves. In September 2014 the Houthis succeeded in capturing the capital Sana’a and gradually expanded their control southward. The subsequent UN-mediated Peace and National Partnership Agreement between transitional president Hadi and the Houthis on a federal, democratic Yemeni state, failed to be implemented as the Houthis successfully dissolved the parliament and deposed Hadi in January 2015. Following the Saudi military intervention to restore the Hadi government in March 2015, ceasefire attempts continuously failed. A two-year deadlock ensued until negotiations between the Houthis and the government of Yemen finally culminated in the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018. However, throughout 2019 the Saudi-led coalition continues to launch airstrikes. Furthermore, in May 2017 the Southern al-Hiraak movement had declared the secessionist formation of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), seizing the interim-capital Aden by January 2018. Territorial divisions between the Yemeni government, the Houthis, forces affiliated with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, local militias and tribes have continued to fracture the country.

Close

Yemeni Civil Wars (1994) (2011 - )

Stage

Framework/substantive - partial

Conflict nature

Inter-group

Peace process

Yemen Inter-group Agreements

Parties

Local Yafa'ai tribe as part of Security belt forces and Governorate officials in Lahj governorate.

Governor of the province [signature]

Director of Security for Lahij Governorate [signature]

Commander of the Security Belt, Lahij Governorate and Yafa’ sector [signature]

Director General of Laabos Directorate [signature]

Director General of al- Hadd Directorate [signature]

Director General of Yahr Directorate [signature]

General Director of al-Maflahi Directorate [signature]

Commander of Laabos security [signature]

Commander of al-Hadd security [signature]

Commander of Yahr security [signature]

Commander of al-Maflahi Security [signature]

Director of Public Works and Roads Department, Laabos Directorate [signature]

Director of Public Works and Roads Department, al- Hadd Directorate [signature]

Director of Public Works and Roads Department, al-Maflahi Directorate [signature]

Director of Public Works and Roads Department, Yahr Directorate [signature]

Third parties

-

Description

Short agreement which provides for the protection of key roads in Lahj governorate, including acts of banditry and destruction of roads. The agreement provides for a range of detailed measures in the interest of preserving roads for public interests, setting out a system of public reporting and commensurate fines.

Agreement document

YE_180322_Agreement between Yafa’ai tribe security belt members and Lahj governorate officials to protect the roads_EN.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Agreement document (original language)

YE_180322_Agreement between Yafa’ai tribe security belt members and Lahj governorate officials to protect the roads_AR.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type

Isolated example

Rationale

Further sources suggest this is an unusual agreement although it seems formalised to an extent and detailed in its provisions. While the agreement is well supported by a range of officials, local security leaders and other societal notables, agreements which deal with roads in such detail may be unusual in these areas. Insufficient level of further sources make this isolated, where it is not clear that such agreement practices are either persistent or formalised.

Is there a documented link to a national peace process?

No

Link to national process: articulated rationale

No clear link in the agreement text or from further sources.

Name of Locale

Yafa'a

Nature of Locale

Smaller

GPS Lat/Long (DD)

13.653613, 45.212016

Participant type

Local state actor
Local armed group
Regional state actor

Mediator, facilitator or similar

No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture)

Page 1, Preamble

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Page 1, Preamble

Praise to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon his truthful and faithful Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him, and upon his good and pure family and companions .... and after: -

Page 3, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

... This and Allah is the arbiter of success

Grievance List

Page 1, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

1 - All acknowledges banning and outlawing all kind of attacks on the main and secondary roads, and no group or individual has the right to attack or disrupt them, for whatever the reason, because they are public routes that serve everyone and are a red line and it is forbidden to narrow or attack them from any party, group, or people.

Cattle rustling/banditry

Page 1, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

1 - All acknowledges banning and outlawing all kind of attacks on the main and secondary roads, and no group or individual has the right to attack or disrupt them, for whatever the reason, because they are public routes that serve everyone and are a red line and it is forbidden to narrow or attack them from any party, group, or people.

Page 2, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

7 - It is firmly prohibited to assault roads and sub-gravel roads, or damage approved plans (the current existing roads), or prevent repairing, maintaining, paving, and asphalting, and every directorate, region and village concerned, has to report damage or assaults [carried out] by any party or persons. The concerned authorities shall respond to any report quickly.

Page 3, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa'

11- This letter and what has been agreed upon will be copied for the relevant authorities in the four directorates, local councils, notables, leaders of the movement, social figures, all concerned people, and citizens in general, and everyone is concerned to preserve the main and secondary road lines, and stop assaulting or damaging them, and to immediately report any attack to the concerned authorities to stop and hold any violator accountable, and applying fines and the appropriate penalty for each violation, removing any innovations or obstacles.

Social cover

Page 2, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

7 - It is firmly prohibited to assault roads and sub-gravel roads, or damage approved plans (the current existing roads), or prevent repairing, maintaining, paving, and asphalting, and every directorate, region and village concerned, has to report damage or assaults [carried out] by any party or persons. The concerned authorities shall respond to any report quickly.

Page 2, The Subject: Protection of public roads and the secondary roads of Yafa’

10 - The Works and Roads Department in the directorates, along with the security apparatus and the security belt, and in coordination with the directors of the general directorates, shall supervise and monitor all of the above, to control [future] violations, limit previous violations, and deal with them decisively and responsibly in a way that [help] achieve the safety of the general and secondary roads and [بالمخالفات التماثل وعدم] and all citizens have to report any new violation.