How the Phenomenon of “Vendetta” Doubled the Tragedy of Yemenis?

Day by day, the pains of the wounded Yemeni people are increasing, in addition to the years-long war and the economic crisis that has afflicted the citizens, tribes suffer from the increasing phenomenon of “vendetta”.

In front of this constant suffering, the notables from among the tribes are trying to intervene for reform, and end this dangerous social phenomenon, among the failure of the security authorities to reduce it.

Old Vendetta

On May 18, 2021, armed clashes erupted between the “Al-Jazea” and “Al-Marfad” tribes of Al-Maraziq in the Al-Hanak area in the Nisab district of Shabwa Governorate (southeast), which resulted in the killing of 4 people on both sides.

The clashes happened as a result of an old vendetta between the two tribes, and developments in clashes in which medium and heavy weapons were used, in addition to artillery.

On April 11, 2021, clashes erupted between armed men from the “Al-Haidara” and “Al-Yaslam” tribes, in the center of the Ahwar district of the Abyan governorate, as a result, at least two people were killed and a third injured, before tribal mediation intervened to calm down and stop the shooting.

Armed men from the two tribes had gathered in separate places on the outskirts of the district, which is witnessing an old vendetta resulting from a dispute over agricultural lands and torrential streams several decades ago.

And in mid-January 2021, an old vendetta between the “Al-Shurfan” and “Awad bin Qamar” tribes in the Al-Khobar Laqmoush area of ​​the Habban District in Shabwa Governorate, caused confrontations between the two sides, artillery and heavy weapons were used in them.

In mid-February 2018, clashes erupted between armed men from the “Al-Maraziq” tribe and the “Al-Suleiman” tribe, and both of them are from the “Al-Awaliq” tribe in Shabwa governorate, as a result of an old vendetta between them.

The clashes erupted in the city of Ataq, the capital of Shabwa Governorate, which caused the deaths of two people and injured 3 others, and endangered the lives of shoppers, and stores to close.

Tribal clashes erupted on July 17, 2017, and led to the killing of the tribal sheikh “Ali Hadi”, and one of his companions was wounded, as a result of a vendetta between the Laqmoush tribes of the Azzan region in Shabwa governorate.

 

Absence of Authority

In an interview with “Al-Estiklal”, Sheikh “Al-Radhi Al-Mansouri”, he is one of the sheikhs of the “Al-Mansouri” tribe in Al-Baydaa Governorate, said: “We have vendettas with several tribes, including a vendetta with the Al-Muqbel tribe that goes back about 25 years, more than 15 people were killed on both sides”.

He explained that “The dispute began in the mid-1990s over the ownership of agricultural land, but it developed into a clash in which 3 people were killed, and then it became an issue of vendetta between our tribe and the Al-Muqbel tribe, every once in a while, they kill some of us, and of course we kill some of them”.

Regarding the continuation of the vendetta between the two tribes, Al-Mansouri said: “The main reason is the absence of the security services and their failure to carry out their duty to arrest the perpetrators at the beginning, and because the killer is fleeing and his tribe is smuggling and hiding him, the custom in vendetta has been that someone from the same tribe as the killer is a target for the other tribe”.

He continued, “Just as the courts usually take many years to pass their judgment on the offender, the period may reach 15 and 20 years, a period that drains the right holders, it exhausts them in prosecution offices and courts, and costs them huge sums of money”.

Regarding the hope for an end to this phenomenon and the bloodshed, Al-Mansouri said: “We are ready to end the vendetta among us, provided that the murderers surrender themselves to justice, because they are the ones who started, we recover all our losses from the beginning of the issue until today, and they recompense our students who did not go to school”.

It is worth noting that vendetta issues harm even school students, by stopping their studies for fear of being targeted by hostile tribes, especially those which hold that vendetta should be carried out against the best men of the hostile tribe, what increases the area of ​​illiteracy among the tribes’ children.

The “Yemen Partners”, a private international organization, had said that thousands of children had stopped going to school in 3 governorates in Yemen, fearing that they would be targeted with murder for vendetta, which are the provinces that are predominantly tribal, such as Al-Jawf, Ma'rib and Shabwa.

A conflict had erupted in Marib since the seventies between the “Al-Shoulan” and “Al-Hamdan” tribes in Al-Jawf Governorate, a result of disputed land ownership, and it caused dozens of lives to be claimed, students absent from schools, and illiteracy among the two tribes, according to the “Yemen Partners” organization.

Tribal Efforts

Despite the failure of the security services to perform their duties and the procrastination of the judicial authorities in deciding the murder issues in a way that ensures that it does not turn into an intertribal vendetta, but there are tribal efforts in several regions in Yemen seeking to end issues of the vendetta between tribes that lasted for several decades.

On June 1, 2021, tribal efforts led by a member of the National Reconciliation Team, Sheikh “Muhammad Al-Maqdashi”, succeeded in ending a vendetta issue lasted for about 25 years, between the families of “Al-Azab” and “Al-Jaradi” in Mayfa'a Ans District of Dhamar Governorate.

On October 21, 2021, tribal efforts succeeded in ending a vendetta between “Al-Shaybah” and “Al-Shahri” families in the Mayfa'a Ans district of Dhamar Governorate, after the killing of “Saad Al-Shahri” and “Abdel Nasser Al-Shaybah”, and 5 others injured about 10 years ago, where both sides gave up their rights, and their signing of the peace agreement in the presence of sheikhs from the region and social figures.

 

The 2nd Country in the World

It is worth noting that Yemenis possess weapons -according to the law-, and the inability of the security personnel to regulate the carrying of arms in the cities of a tribal nature, it is considered a major reason for the emergence of the phenomenon of “vendetta”.

Yemen is also one of the most famous people in the world to possess arms, the law grants citizens the right to possess a personal weapon along with a quantity of ammunition.

The Center for “Small Arms Survey”, a Swiss research center concerned with counting the number of small arms and issues of armed violence in the world, estimated the number of weapons in Yemen at about 80 weapons for every 100 citizens.

In a press conference held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in June 2018, the director of the Swiss Center, Eric Berman, revealed that there are one billion small arms in the countries of the world, including 875 million pieces in the hands of civilians.

Berman added that America ranks first in the world with a rate of 120 pieces per 100 people, Yemen, which with a population of about 25 million, ranks second in the world and first in the Arab world, with a rate of 82 weapons per 100 citizens.

In 2017, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva announced: “The United States ranks first in the world, with a rate of 120 guns per 100 citizens, Yemen comes in second place, with a rate of 53 weapons per 100 citizens”

With conflicting statistics estimating the number of weapons, Yemen is still the first in the Arab world and the second in the world, a position it occupied for several years, this is reflected in the phenomenon of carrying arms in general, and the emergence of the phenomenon of vendetta among the tribes in particular.