Under Pressure: Social Violence Over Land and Water in Yemen (YAVA Issue Brief 2)

In February 2007 at least a dozen people, including an 11-year-old boy, were killed during a land dispute between tribesmen from al-Baydha and Sanhan that erupted in a southern suburb of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. A sheikh from Sanhan kidnapped the son of a sheikh from al-Baydha to pressure him into renouncing ownership of a large plot of land. The youth reportedly fought back, injuring his kidnapper, and was then killed. The boy’s family rejected mediation and a gun battle erupted, with further killings apparently occurring when injured fighters were taken to hospital. Fighting was only quelled when the government sent tanks to separate the parties.

This incident was unusual only for its notoriety and for the intervention by the highest levels of government. Typically modest in scale, social violence over land and water in Yemen is nevertheless so pervasive and selfperpetuating that it claims thousands of lives each year and severely inhibits social and economic development. While escalating political violence in Yemen is rapidly capturing international attention, more insidious landand water-related social violence threatens to further weaken community cohesion and undermine stability. At the national level, collective land grievances are fuelling southern resentment and calls for secession.

Under Pressure: Social Violence Over Land and Water in Yemen, a Yemen Armed Violence Assessment (YAVA) Issue Brief, provides an overview of the dynamics and impacts of land- and water-related social violence, highlighting likely future trends. It elaborates on the particular contribution of small arms and light weapons as a cross-cutting factor shaping social violence. The Issue Brief also considers government initiatives to contain civilian gun use, and highlights the many linkages between social violence and other systemic challenges confronting Yemeni society.

Also available in ARABIC.

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