Why Mareb is seen as a haven for Al Qaeda

NDI Country Director Peter Dimitroff (left) listens as Sheikh Abu Hassan al-Sulaimani (right) speaks.

Terrorism, its reasons, motives, and possible solutions was the main topic of an extended meeting of local officials, politicians and activists on Wednesday in Mareb, in a bid to get rid of the image that their province is a safe haven for Al Qaeda suspects.

The reasons mentioned by the participants included political, social, and economic, and religious ones, and real development was agreed upon almost all as the common solution to terrorism.    

As to why Mareb is seen as a haven for Al Qaeda suspects, tribal chiefs, religious leaders, and local government officials gave different answers.

Some said that is because of the topographical nature of Mareb which enables fugitives to hide easily, and some said it was because tribal values, whereby tribesmen think they must do their duty to protect those who are in need for protection whatever they have done. Very few Al Qaeda suspects are from Mareb and most of them come from other provinces. 

“This feeling becomes even stronger if those who need protection are religious people, because the tribesmen here are greatly affected by religious discourse,” said a local analyst in Mareb.  

“Poverty, illiteracy, feelings of marginalization and government mismanagement can also be as reasons for why Mareb gives shelter to militants,” he said. 

Only 2000 students including 350 women study in the three local colleges of science, arts, and educations in the province of Mareb, according to academics from teaching in the colleges. 

A prominent Salafi scholar in Mareb has strongly condemned the violence and the bombings that happen from time to time in Yemen, saying those acts are against the correct Islam.

Sheikh Abu Hassan al-Sulaimani, who runs a Salafi teaching centre, said that very naïve young people carry out bombings and suicide operations  and sabotage acts. The process begins when they start calling others kafirs (infidels).

“They judge that the rulers and society are kafirs (infidels),” he said in reference to young people who think wrongly that  they will get happy life with beautiful girls (hur al-ein)  in paradise as soon as they die in a suicide bombing against people whom they think are kafirs.

The second reason, sheikh mentioned, was that those young people and their instructors ignore correct Islam, which forbids killing the non-Muslims who are not at war with Muslims.
 
Finding solutions, however, is not just the responsibility of the religious scholars but the responsibility of everyone. 

“Terrorism is a very complicated issue and it has many aspects and it is not only up young people who exercise it. So everybody should be involved in finding solutions. The states that keep attacking others and want to wipe others off the map should stop this, schools should perform their duty, as well as mosques and the media, not just religious scholars to treat the problem,” said al-Sulaimani.

Some politicians said that political tyranny and international injustice was behind the terrorism.  

“We can not separate terrorism from tyranny; the Arab and Islamic world are ruled by dictators who took power by force or inheritance.  Tyranny begets terrorism. This absence of international justice is the second reason,” said a tribal sheikh from Mareb. 

Peter Dimitroff, country director of the National Democratic Institute Yemen branch, attended the meeting and listened to the debates and promised to help the people of Mareb rid themselves of the specter of terrorism which impedes the development in Yemen in general and in Mareb in particular.  

“We are committed to continue our support for this province. The recommendations and findings of this meeting will be used in our future programs. We will also inform the donors that the people of Marib have suggested solutions for the problem of terrorism, but they need the help and cooperation of all,” said Dimitroff in a brief speech.

The governor of Mareb, Aref Al Zuka sponsored the meeting.  Officials of the local authority and tribal sheikhs and political parties and civil society took part in the one-day symposium which was organized by the local website Mareb Press. The NDI raised the funds for the symposium from the British Embassy.

Four papers were presented in the symposium.  The Salafi Sheikh Abu al-Hassan al-Sulaimani talked about the reasons behind violence and terrorism, journalist Abdul Elah Haider spoke about the definition of terrorism and political motives, Dr. Bakeel al-Wals spoke about how the society looks at terror, and Saeed al-Yousefi spoke about the impacts of terrorism on the economy. 

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