Yemen: Militant Groups Lead Descent into Chaos Powerful armed groups have sidelined Yemens government ever since a 2011 popular uprising forced long-time president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Shiite militiamen and Sunni extremists have looked to exploit the power vacuum in pitched battles that have fuelled tensions and abetted Yemens slide into violence. The Shiite Huthi militia, also known as Ansarullah (Supporters of God), have long complained of marginalization by authorities in Sanaa. They hail from the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that makes up approximately one-third of Yemens Sunni-majority population. Their strongholds lie in the northern provinces bordering Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and they have been accused of receiving support from Shiite Iran. North Yemen was a Zaidi imamate until a 1962 coup turned the country into a republic. Badreddin al-Huthi, who formed the Faithful Youth political movement in 1992 to fight discrimination, is considered the spiritual leader of the Huthis, which take his name. His son Hussein led a nearly three-month uprising in Saada province before the army killed him in 2004. Ansarullah is now led by Husseins brother, Abdulmalik. Six wars fought with the central government between 2004 and 2010 killed thousands of people before a truce was signed. After months of clashes with the Sunni Islamist party al-Islah last year, the Huthis took control of the capital on September 21. They are thought to be backed by forces loyal to Saleh. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is considered by the United States to be the extremist networks deadliest branch. It formed in 2009 when al-Qaida in Yemen -- whose biggest attack was the 2000 bombing of the American guided-missile destroyer the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors -- merged with its Saudi counterpart. AQAP fighters have repeatedly attacked Yemeni security forces and been targeted by scores of US drone strikes. Present in southern and southeastern Yemen, AQAP has launched a series of raids on major state institutions such as the defense ministry and intelligence headquarters. The group abducts foreigners, including US journalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie, who were killed by their captors when American commandos stormed an AQAP hideout last year. AQAP also claimed responsibility for the deadly January 7 attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, claiming vengeance for its cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. With weakened state institutions, AQAP has become the only force capable of resisting the advance of Ansarullah. Sunni tribes, hostile to the Huthis arrival in their provinces, have teamed up with Al-Qaeda against the militia, as the government has remained mostly idle. Since September, AQAP has claimed several attacks on the Huthis, including the killing of 49 people in the central Ibb province in December, and one in October that left 47 dead in Sanaa. Hopes of an end to Yemens political crisis were raised in 2013 with the launch of a national dialogue, but the impoverished country now appears to be spiraling into chaos. President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadis repeated calls for the Huthis to withdraw from Sanaa went unanswered as they expanded further the south and east, claiming they were fighting al-Qaida on behalf of the authorities. In November, new Prime Minister Khalid Bahah formed a new cabinet as part of a U.N.-brokered peace deal that also called for a Huthi pull back. Tensions have been running high in Sanaa since the Huthis abducted Hadis chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution that he is overseeing. Mubarak is in charge of the national dialogue. The Huthis said they had seized the top aide to prevent the violation of the U.N.-brokered agreement they reached with Hadi, which provided for the formation of a new government and the appointment of Huthi advisers to the president. On Tuesday, the Shiite militia seized the presidential palace in what a minister said was a bid to usurp Hadis U.S.-backed government. A day earlier they had surrounded Bahahs residence. SourceAgence France Presse naharnet/stories/en/163944-yemen-militant-groups-lead-descent-into-chaos
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 16:59:23 +0000
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