Al-Qaida Destroyed Our Family

Tik Root | Slate and Roads & Kingdoms | Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi/Reuters

SANA’A, Yemen—On the morning of Aug. 30, 2013, in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, Khaled al-Dhahab’s phone rang. The villager on the other end relayed the news Khaled had long dreaded: His brother, Qaid, was dead.

Hours earlier, Qaid al-Dhahab had been returning from a wedding celebration to his home near the rural city of Rada’a, roughly 160 miles southeast of Sana’a, when a torrent of missiles flew from the sky, turning the car in which he rode into a smoldering heap. Qaid, who by most accounts was a rising leader in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)—considered the most active and dangerous branch of the global terrorist network—had been a target in a suspected U.S. drone strike.

Khaled was not vengeful—he said Qaid had “chosen his path.” He was, however, upset—distressed that his once-proud family keeps finding itself mixed up in al-Qaida and the West’s so-called war on terror.

CONTINUE READING AT ROADS & KINGDOMS OR SLATE

Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says

Joby Warrick and Tik Root | The Washington Post


When Qatar’s royal family was looking for advice on charitable giving, it turned to a well-regarded professor named Abd al-Rahman al-Nu’aymi. The 59-year-old educator had a stellar résumé that included extensive fundraising experience and years of work with international human rights groups.

But one apparent accomplishment was omitted from the list: According to U.S. officials, Nu’aymi also was working secretly as a financier for al-Qaeda, funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq even as he led campaigns in Europe for greater freedoms for Muslims.

Nu’aymi was one of two men identified by Treasury Department officials last week as major financial backers of al-Qaeda and its regional chapters across the Middle East. Although U.S. officials routinely announce steps to disrupt terrorist financing networks, the individuals named in the latest case are far from ordinary. Both men have served as advisers to government-backed foundations in Qatar and have held high-profile positions with international human rights groups. The second man, a Yemeni, is heavily involved in his country’s U.S.-backed political transition. 

CONTINUE READING AT WASHINGTON POST...  

Deported Yemeni migrant workers: Down and out

Tik Root | The Economist

HAGGARD and penniless, thousands of Yemenis are being dumped at the dusty and chaotic al-Tuwal border crossing with Saudi Arabia. As they pour out of dangerously overcrowded buses, aid workers hand them bread and juice. For many, this is the only support they receive. Freshly expelled from Saudi Arabia, the mass of deportees is now Yemen’s problem.

CONTINUE READING AT ECONOMIST.COM... 

Militants stage complex attack on Yemen’s Defense Ministry, killing at least 52

Tik Root | The Washington Post

SANAA, Yemen — Militants carried out a multi-stage attack on Yemen’s Defense Ministry early Thursday and clashed with government forces in the fortified compound throughout the day, leaving at least 52 people dead and scores injured, the government said.

The assault was the most ambitious in the capital, Sanaa, since May 2012, when al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a local offshoot of the global terrorist network, targeted a military parade with a suicide bombing that killed more than 90 soldiers. Although many observers here said they suspected AQAP was behind the latest violence, it remained unclear late Thursday exactly who was responsible or why the assault occurred.

Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee said in a statement that at least 167 people were injured in Thursday’s attack, which began just after 9 a.m. when a car bomb exploded outside the Defense Ministry’s western gate, shattering windows in nearby building and shaking panes across the city.
 
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Yemen’s New Ways of Protesting Drone Strikes: Graffiti and Poetry

Tik Root | TIME

An American drone hovers along a main thoroughfare in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. Not a real drone, but rather a 7 foot-long rendition of an unmanned aircraft spray-painted near the top of a whitewashed city wall. Below it, a stenciled-on child is writing: “Why did you kill my family?” in blood-red English and Arabic script.

Painted by Yemeni artist Murad Subay, the Banksy-esque mural sits beside three others also admonishing the United States’ use of drones in Yemen to track and kill terrorism suspects. This drone art is part of Subay’s latest campaign, “12 Hours”, which aims to raise awareness about twelve problems facing Yemen, including weapons proliferation, sectarianism, kidnapping and poverty. Drones are the fifth and arguably most striking “hour” yet completed.

“Graffiti in Yemen, or street art, is a new device to communicate with the people,” says Subay, 26, who after taking up street art two years ago in the wake of Yemen’s Arab Spring revolution has almost single-handedly sparked the growing Yemeni graffiti movement. “In one second, you can send a message.”

CONTINUE READING AT TIME... 

TED talks' unlikely success in Yemen

Tik Root | Aljazeera

Sanaa, Yemen - The poorest country in the Arab world, Yemen - riven by security concerns, political uncertainty and a mounting humanitarian crisis - at first glance seems an unlikely host for TED talks: slickly produced conferences first held in the US where speakers present "ideas worth spreading".

But that's exactly what happened last week. Riding a wave of success from Yemen's inaugural TEDx conference in December, the second gathering was triple the size of the first.

"This year we decided to make it bigger," said Samed Ahmed, a pharmacist by day and TEDx co-organiser the rest of the time. "It will be shown all over the world that Yemeni people can do something big."

TEDx events are independently organised offshoots of the twice-a-year TED conference. The format - speakers have roughly 15 minutes to convey an idea that does not have an explicitly political or religious agenda - is the same around the world. But there is no doubt that this was a distinctly Yemeni affair.

CONTINUE READING AT AJE...

For Yemen’s Few Remaining Jews, Time Has Run Out

Tik Root and Tom Finn | TIME

Celebratory gunshots rang out. Young men sprinted down the narrow streets of the capital, whooping with excitement. It was Feb. 25, 2012, and Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, had resigned — another autocrat toppled by the Arab Spring.

As other Yemenis excited by the prospect of a new future filled Change Square, Suleiman Habib sat on the steps of his sparse home on the outskirts of the capital. Watching fireworks burst over the city, he contemplated whether his people’s more-than-two-millennia-long history in the country was about to end forever.

A gaunt silversmith in his mid-60s and one of the last members of an ancient community of Jews living in Yemen, Habib was fearful of a future without the autocrat he saw as a guardian. Almost two years after the nation’s rebellion against Saleh, he feels no enthusiasm for his country’s democratic awakening.

“Saleh was a despot. He ran Yemen like a fiefdom, he neglected people and stole natural resources, but as a Jew my family and I were protected by him. Who will do that now that he is gone?” says Habib.

CONTINUE READING AT TIME... 

Coming In From the Cold

Tik Root | Foreign Policy

SANAA, Yemen — As a seemingly endless line of cars snaked its way into the northern Yemeni city of Saada, the atmosphere was festive. The people had come to attend the funeral of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the man whose name became synonymous with one of the country's major political and religious movements. Yet while the Houthis and their supporters were no doubt mourning their leader's death, the event, which drew hundreds of thousands of attendees earlier this year, was also a celebration of sorts.

Such a gathering would have been unthinkable only a few years ago when the whole of Saada governorate was under a wartime blockade. But after nearly a decade of fighting with the central government, the Houthi movement has enjoyed a rapid post-Arab Spring increase in both support and legitimacy.

"They are sitting at the table negotiating with all the others, including those that fought these wars against them," said Jamal Benomar, the U.N. special advisor on Yemen, on a recent trip to Saada. This new dynamic is a welcome change from the recent past, when Yemeni officials routinely derided the Houthis as Iranian-backed "terrorists" (a claim the group vehemently denies). But the former rebels' slingshot-like entrance into mainstream politics is also raising serious concerns about what comes next.

CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGN POLICY... 

Thursday Blues

Tik Root | The Economist

ON AUGUST 15th Yemenis woke up and, although it was a Thursday, for the first time since a two-day weekend was introduced in the late 1990s, everyone had to go to work.

Yemen is the last country in the world to switch to a Friday-Saturday weekend and abandon Thursday as a day of rest; Afghans and Iranians still take half the day off. The shift is meant to better align the Yemeni workweek with that of its trading partners in the Middle East, Asia and the West. “They were wasting a Thursday,” says Nabil al-Khamery, a prominent car-dealer whose business relies on international trade. “To save time and money, you have to [correspond] with the system.”

CONTINUE READING AT ECONOMIST.COM...

Yemen's Houthi rebels defy years of war and repression

Tik Root | BBC

Holding up "Death to America" signs and pictures of their fallen leader, an eager throng of Houthi rebels and their supporters gathered in the war-torn northern Yemeni city of Saada earlier this month for a funeral nine years in the making.

Just hours before the ceremony was set to begin, no-one had been told precisely where it would be held.

Despite being forced to hang around in the whipping dust, fidgety funeral-goers seemed understanding of the extra security.

They had, after all, come to bury Hussein Badr al-Dine al-Houthi, the charismatic founder of a group that has variously been a target for al-Qaeda, neighbouring tribesmen, and the central government.

CONTINUE READING AT THE BBC...

A day at the zoo — in Yemen

Tik Root | Global Post

SANA’A, Yemen — For just 100 riyals ($0.46), visitors of the Sana’a Zoo in Yemen’s capital can peruse a bizarre collection of animals that showcases pigeons over monkeys and alligators – and that hosts Arabian Leopards sixteen times as rare as the Giant Panda.

The animals are unhealthy, the cages are small, and the care is rudimentary at best. But the zoo’s low but quirky standards are not enough to deter pleasure-seeking Yemenis from enjoying the wildlife.

As one of the few green spaces among the city’s urban sprawl, the zoo is a weekend and holiday destination for Yemenis looking for an afternoon of entertainment amid the grinding poverty and rising insecurity that have come to characterize the country in recent years. 

CONTINUE READING AT GLOBAL POST... 

Stepping back in time in Socotra

Tik Root | BBC Travel

Nestled high on a plateau between the Haghier mountain range and the Arabian Sea, five Socotrans gathered in a stone hut devoid of electricity, running water and all but the most essential supplies. After a fire-cooked dinner of goat, rice and tea, a group of Dixam plateau men settled in for a standard night of song, poetry and discussion about their island’s future.

Socotra is an island of roughly 50,000 people located 380km off the coast of Yemen, the country to which it only technically belongs. Far removed from the political and security instability on the mainland, Socotra’s stunning microclimates, exceptional biodiversity and Candyland-like features make it an inimitable paradise.

CONTINUE READING AT THE BBC TRAVEL...

A Sheikh's Life

Tik Root & Casey Coombs | The American Prospect

Tariq al-Fadhli wept when he heard that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

“I love him and thank him for supporting me. If it wasn't for Osama Bin Laden, maybe I wouldn't have returned to my country,” recalled al-Fadhli, a well-known Yemeni tribal Sheikh recently expelled from his compound in southern Abyan province at gunpoint by anti-al-Qaeda militiamen who were convinced he was aiding militants in the area. But during an interview at his government-proffered villa in neighboring Aden, al-Fadhli insisted that he is affiliated with not al-Qaeda.

“If I had a relationship with al-Qaeda, the local intelligence would know,” he said, waving a cigarette in his neatly manicured hand. Safe behind a high wall buffered with heavily armed tribesmen—most of whom had a wad of khat (a mildly narcatoic leaf chewed by many Yemenis) in their cheek—Sheikh al-Fadli was relaxed. Wearing a local kilt-like futa, a traditional dagger known as a jambiya, and other colorful accessories, he even cracked jokes. If the accusations of al-Qaeda affiliation turn out to be true, he said, “I am prepared to go to Guantanamo and pay for the ticket. I would go there naked.”

CONTINUE READING AT THE PROSPECT...

Jailed in Damascus

Tik Root | Foreign Policy

My time in Syria was short but decidedly varied: one week as a tourist, 10 days as a student, and two weeks as an inmate. As the Syrian conflict continues to unfold, my brush with the regime's paranoia was just one of the first instances of what evolved into an extremely bloody crackdown.

I was arrested on March 18, 2011, the first Friday of what was then termed the Syrian "revolution," after stumbling upon a protest in old Damascus. Just a student at the time, I was suspected of being a journalist, spy, or other unwelcome ilk. I was charged vaguely with "breaking Syrian law" and spent the next two weeks crammed in a basement prison run by the infamous secret police.

This week marked the second anniversary of my release. Since then, the Syria I so fleetingly knew has, for better or worse, unraveled.

CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGN POLICY...

Yemen Still Sentences Children to Death by Firing Squad

Tik Root | The Atlantic

SANA'A, YEMEN -- On Saturday, Mohammed Haza'a was put to death by the Yemeni government despite legitimate questions as to whether he was under the age of 18 when he committed an alleged murder.

In 1999, Mohammed shot an intruder at his home in the central Yemeni city of Tiaz. The man later died of his wounds. Various judges, including the one who made the initial ruling, determined that the killing was self-defense and that Mohammed was underage at the time of the crime. Ignoring these concerns, an appeals court eventually sentenced him to death.

George Abu Al-Zulof, a child protection specialist at UNICEF, describes in chilling detail how firing squads carry out their orders. "They put them on the ground, they cover them with the blanket and then a doctor comes and points around the heart from the back side. Then they shoot three to four bullets [into] the heart."

CONTINUE READING AT THEATLANTIC.COM...

Arms in Yemen: Guns for sale

Tik Root | The Economist

JIHANA, a nondescript village half an hour outside the Yemeni capital Sana’a, is a gun lover’s paradise. Yemen boasts a score of arms markets and Jihana is among the largest. The shops along the main road, as well as those tucked away in the market’s dusty depths, alternate between convenience stores and weapons outlets. Kalashnikovs, Turkish glocks, tank artillery and even “Libyans”, black rifles supposedly supplied by the Qaddafi regime, are all available.

CONTINUE READING AT ECONOMIST.COM...

A shake up in Yemen’s GPC?


Tik Root | Foreign Policy

Facing perhaps its biggest crisis yet, Yemen's ruling party of over three decades, the General People's Congress (GPC), is in desperate need of reform. As one of the only ruling parties to have survived a widespread Arab Spring uprising, it is now navigating uncharted territory. While the party and its leader, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are doing infinitely better than their imprisoned, exiled, dead, or dismantled counterparts across the Middle East and North Africa, the party's continued relevance and prosperity is by no means guaranteed, a reality to which it is struggling to adjust. 

Formed in 1982 by Saleh, then president of the northern Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), the GPC was created to counter the rise of dissident leftist groups, like the National Democratic Front. Over time, the GPC grew into the country's dominant political force, winning the most seats in the first national elections held after the unification of the YAR and the southern People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1990. In the last parliamentary elections held in Yemen, in 2003, the party won 76 percent of seats. But, by the time the Arab Spring broke out the GPC was more a collection of powerful elites living off access to government coffers than a political party in the democratic sense of the term. Hardly bound to public opinion, the GPC ruled with relative impunity and only occasional resistance from the country's pseudo opposition coalition (the Joint Meeting Parties, or JMP). In hindsight, it is not surprising that the party became a primary target of revolutionaries. 

Yemen's popular uprising that began in January 2011 brought millions of protesters to the streets. Activists called for the "fall of the regime," and events often turned bloody, with more than 2,000 deaths reported by Yemen's human rights minister. In November 2011, after many delays, Saleh finally signed an internationally brokered Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreement to relinquish the presidency. In February 2012, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was elected in a one-man race called for under the GCC transition plan. Over this turbulent period the GPC's popularity, membership, and monopoly on government resources took a predictably hard hit. Now, with fewer spoils to go around and the need to mobilize support, the GPC will have to evolve into a more self-sustaining entity.

CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGN POLICY...

Gun Control, Yemen-Style


Tik Root | The Atlantic

SANA'A, YEMEN -- With shops lining the main road and hard bargaining merchants abounding, Jihana appears to be your average Yemeni market. But instead of shopping for food or clothes, customers peruse a vast assortment of glocks, pistols, AK47s, M16s, anti-aircraft artillery, bazookas, and nearly any other weapon short of an actual tank. 

"In Yemen, no matter if you're rich or poor, you must have guns. Even if it's just one piece," insists Abdul Wahab al-Ammari, a tribal sheikh from Yemen's Ibb province who resides in Sana'a, citing self-protection as the primary driver of gun ownership. "I have maybe 14 high powered weapons, and 3 handguns [at home]."

Americans, spurred by the tragic shootings in Newton, Aurora, and elsewhere, clearly aren't alone in their need to discuss gun control. Yemen, the second most heavily-armed country in the world per capita after the U.S., has a completely unique set of challenges as it wrestles with the question of what, if anything, can be done to address the demand of average citizens to bear arms.

CONTINUE READING AT THEATLANTIC.COM...

Yemen Explores Alternative Energy

Casey Coombs and Tik Root | Voice of America

SANA'A — The Republic of Yemen, unlike its oil-rich neighbors on the Arabian peninsula, has been forced to explore alternative forms of energy to offset low crude oil production.

But while desperate government officials in the capital Sana’a scramble to revive an economy shattered by last year’s anti-government uprisings, renewable energy investments remain on the back burner.
 
In the face of the uprisings, the Yemeni government and international actors froze millions of dollars earmarked for alternative energy projects and in many cases redirected the funds to what they considered more urgent priorities.

One such project, a 60 megawatt wind farm in Al Mokha city, had been stalled since Yemen’s political upheavals began, but is “now moving,” according to Wael Zakout, country manager of Yemen’s World Bank office.

Located along Yemen’s southern Red Sea coast, the proposed site overlooks the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, a waterway through which more than three million barrels of crude oil shipments sail daily. Currently, Yemen produces about 1,000 megawatts of electricity nationwide - about a third of consumer demand.