Assassination of Houthi leader lays bare a deeper power struggle with countrywide implications, observers say
As the organisers of Yemen's National Dialogue Conference struggle to bring the peace talks to a close, the assassination of a prominent politician has cast a pall over the country's internationally backed political transition.
Abdulkarim Jadban was a popular if outspoken member of parliament, and a founding member of Believing Youth - a revivalist Shia Zaydi movement whose followers are generally called Houthis. Jadban was killedby motorcycle-riding gunmen while leaving a mosque in central Sanaa, Yemen's capital, in late November.
The assassination has been attributed to spillover from sectarian violence between Houthi fighters and residents of the Dar Al Hadith Institute, a Sunni Salafist organisation based in Dammaj in the northern province of Saada, the Houthis' stronghold.
But if analysts, politicians and government officials in Yemen are to be believed, the attack brought into the open a worrying trend that goes far beyond sectarian strife. They say Jadban was just one of hundreds of Yemenis who have lost their lives to a series of complex, multifaceted "hidden wars" that threaten to consume the political transition process.
"There are two dialogues going on," asserted Ali al-Bokhaiti, chief spokesman for Ansar Allah, the name the Houthis have adopted for the duration of the peace talks.
To date, no suspects have been named in Jadban's killing. But most believe the assassination is linked to, if not a direct result of, rising tensions between the Houthis and the al-Ahmars, Yemen's most important tribal family and leaders of the country's main Islamist party. These tensions encompass a complex set of tribal, political and religious rivalries rooted in historical differences and recent events..
As the organisers of Yemen's National Dialogue Conference struggle to bring the peace talks to a close, the assassination of a prominent politician has cast a pall over the country's internationally backed political transition.
Abdulkarim Jadban was a popular if outspoken member of parliament, and a founding member of Believing Youth - a revivalist Shia Zaydi movement whose followers are generally called Houthis. Jadban was killedby motorcycle-riding gunmen while leaving a mosque in central Sanaa, Yemen's capital, in late November.
The assassination has been attributed to spillover from sectarian violence between Houthi fighters and residents of the Dar Al Hadith Institute, a Sunni Salafist organisation based in Dammaj in the northern province of Saada, the Houthis' stronghold.
But if analysts, politicians and government officials in Yemen are to be believed, the attack brought into the open a worrying trend that goes far beyond sectarian strife. They say Jadban was just one of hundreds of Yemenis who have lost their lives to a series of complex, multifaceted "hidden wars" that threaten to consume the political transition process.
for more http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/yemen-hidden-wars-threaten-peace-process-2013123898288137.html
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