Yemen’s Mediator in Sa’ada Blacklisted by Govt for Weapons Dealing
I mentioned in my last article, Faris Manna is a main weapons dealer in Yemen. He is also the brother of the governor of Sa’ada. While it may seem odd that Faris Manna is also the head of the Yemeni govt committee in the Sa’ada War mediations, the biggest criminals in Yemen are normally very well connected. Likely he has sold weapons to rebels (a more plausible story than they were shipped from Iran) and gains his credibility there. The war economy benefits a variety of influential persons from sheiks and lawmakers to soldiers, smugglers and arms dealers.
In this case, one aspect of the Yemeni “government” is either punishing him for failing at mediation or authentically trying to enforce weapons controls on imports. Instead of forbidding citizens to trade with him, a better strategy would be to subject him to legal sanctions, but he’s too well connected for that to happen, as are the other top drug, weapons, deisel and human smugglers. Tariq Abdel Rahman, the country’s oil distributor and Saleh’s partner in oil smuggling, owes billions to the state.
Yemen Post
Chief mediator between government, Houthi on top of arms dealers’ blacklistAuthorities in Yemen have circulated a blacklist of arms dealers, with head of the commission mediating between the government and the Houthi rebels in Saada on top of the blacklisted. The authorities have warned against trading in weapons and dealing with Faris Mana’a, the head of the commission, and other arms dealers in Saada.
More from the Yemen Tribune:
SANAA, 05 Oct — The government Sunday circulated a black list of key Yemeni arms dealers. At the top of the list came Faris Mana who is heading a state-sponsored committee to negotiate peace with Shiite insurgents in northern Yemen. Mana is a major weapons trafficker and other names in the list included: Abdullah Bin Ma’ili, Jarman Muhammad Jarman, Ahmad Awad Abu-Maska, Hussein Ahmad al-Hathili, Abdullah Mubarak al-Saqeer, and Ali Daeallah al-Sawadi. Most of these men are tribal sheiks and authorities Sunday issued a stern warning against importing, dealing and trading with arms and ammunitions, stressing “such acts are unlawful, harm the nation’s security and violators will be held accountable.”Meanwhile, the ruling party official weekly newspaper, Al-Mithaq, Sunday said authorities have thwarted an attempt by arms dealers to bring Chinese-made weapons into the country using fake official documents, adding “those involved are being interrogated and will be tried soon.” The paper said influential mediators tried to convince authorities to let the arms shipment into Yemen but failed.
Fake documents again…
