09.05.12 Yemen Focus
Patronage and tribes
Nadwa al-Dawsari has produced an excellent report on the tribal system for the Carnegie Endowment, Tribal Governance and Stability in Yemen*. She shows how, in the absence of an
effective state, tribes look after their own affairs and how when the
government
moved out of parts of Yemen in 2011 tribes co-operated to cope. They also have
acted as mediators to prevent disputes escalating in areas contested by
Al-Huthi
and Islah-backed tribes. She also throws new light on how tribal actors, not the armed
forces, prevented militants from Ansar al-Shariah seizing large parts of Rada'a earlier this year and then negotiated a
settlement. It appears that Tariq al-Dhabi, the leader, lost his life when he lost the protection of the tribes after he
breached the agreement.
The Saleh system developed over 33 years was based on co-opting local leaders –
usually tribal – and providing them in exchange for support and loyalty with
access to government resources, whether in the form, of cash, jobs, contracts
or
favours. Many tribal leaders received direct subsidies. It was all fed by oil
income, at least until recently. Al-Dawsari describes how some tribal leaders,
brought into the patronage system, have moved to Sana'a to play in national
politics
and business but cut themselves off from tribal roots, undermining their
standing – and, when the money runs out, their influence. The 2012 budget
allocated
YR13 billion for payments to tribal shaikhs – although the prime minister says
the
figure will be cut drastically.
There havem been demonstrations calling for an end to these payments. He may
find this difficult to implement. Al-Dawsari's conclusion is addressed to the
international community. “Evidence about the role performed by tribes in Yemen
challenges two major assumptions: that Yemen is a lawless country and that
tribes and
the tribal system undermine stability and state building. On the contrary, in a
country like Yemen, where the state is weak, the tribal system — especially
tribal conflict resolution mechanisms — can help promote national
reconciliation,
stability, and even state building. As the United Nations and the international
community try to help Yemen in its critical transition and state-building
process,
policymakers and practitioners need to explore ways in which the traditional
system can complement and strengthen this process.”
What she does not discuss is how the patronage system will evolve under
President Abd al-Rab Mansour Hadi and perhaps eventually a more democratic regime. For the moment, the state
subsidies will continue to flow, as will those from Saudi Arabia as well as
people
such as Sadiq and Hamid al-Ahmar, who have their own sources and networks of patronage.
*http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/04/24/tribal-governance-and-stability-in-yemen
For more news and expert analysis about Yemen, please see Yemen Focus.
© 2012 Menas Associates