The politics of foreigners in Yemen
July 4th, 2007 by Torstein Schiøtz Worren
For the first time since 1998 foreigners have been killed on purpose in Yemen. Whereas kidnapping of foreigners was everyday business throughout most of the 1990s when more than 100 were kidnapped, this was mostly in order to pressure the government to free jailed tribesmen or implement social projects in peripheral areas. This meant that very few foreigners were killed except when being caught in the crossfire in shoot-outs between the kidnappers and government forces. This was almost a matter of pride to Yemenis, who would tell the stories of foreigners being treated like guests by their kidnappers, being allowed to move freely in the villages where they were being held, and eventually showered with gifts when they were released after the government gave them what they wanted.
One example was the german Mark who studied at the same centre where I have studies several times and who was kidnapped in 2000. He was picked up by some fellows in fake police uniforms in the main square in Sana’a and brought to a village in the desert a few hours east of the city. According to my teacher who used to teach him, he was never afraid, only bored, and got to practice his Arabic and was released with both gifts and memorable photographs of himself on a camel carrying a Kalashnikov machine gun. What they forget to mention is that these cases usually aren’t as joyful as described, especially not for their families at home.
After the suicide attack on a column of tourist cars in Ma’rib two days ago, though, Yemenis are appalled about what has happened. The following day people seemd more subdued than usual and there were none of the usual friendly comments one normally gets when walking the streets. Not only are people ashamed that something like this can happen in their own country, but the future of Yemen as a tourist destination is also in peril. Almost every single group coming to Yemen would pass through this particular area in their roundtrip around the most interesting sites in the country and trips are being cancelled from all over Europe.
For Yemeni politics, what is worse, is that the government was quick to blame ‘foreigners’ for the attack. Just as in Iraq, all the suicide bombers are “foreign arabs/infiltrators”. As is the case in all parts of the world, be it crime in Norway or extremism in Yemen, it is much easier to blame outsiders as that means we do not have to look for mistakes made at home. I therefore hope that they will conclude that the suicide bomber was Yemeni as that will force them to look to their own society for answers to why it happened.
Not that Yemen is free of extremism. Far from it. It was a gathering place for all kinds of weirdos until the beginning of the decade when they got on the American side of the War on Terror and were supplied with advanced weapons and military advisors. Yemen is full of Americans hunting for “Al-Qaeda” and I bet they can use whatever means they want as they are outside the boundaries of the US constitution.
Some of you might remember my story from late 2002 when a car was blown up in Ma’rib province where the latest attack took place. It was one of the first (publicly admitted) attacks by an unmanned drone and they killed four or five Yemenis who were supposedly terrorists. As this was in the early days of their self-proclaimed war, this attack was actually a desperate attempt to get those people as they had wanted them alive. According to a source of mine, it was actually supposed to be the first operation of the American trained Yemeni anti-terror forces and they had just surrounded the village where these men were hiding. However, a Yemeni pilot, having heard that an operation was going on in the area over the radio took his jet low over the village “to see what was going on” warning the men of the impending attack. In the ensuing chaos they all got in a car and escaped, and not wanting to let them get away, the American sent in their drone to remove the problem.
I bet they pumped some more money into the organisation of the Yemeni forces after that.
On another note, I am all settled in my house now blissfully sleeping throughout the night with my earplugs in. This means that I have trouble hearing my alarm though, so I will just have to get up later so that will not be a problem. Today is the 4th of July and my American flatmate is looking forward to a cup of coffee at the 5-start hotel nearby after the embassy cancelled the celebrations following the attack on the tourists. Not that it would be difficult getting drunk as the access to alcohol in Yemen is easier than ever for foreigners. More and more of them are turning into alcoholics as the lack of things to do means that they turn to drinking instead.