These figures of property damage in Sa’ada were first released in July 2007, so the totals are certainly much higher now after the fifth war. In the mean time, prominent activists including al-Khaiwani remain in jail. Another is Mohammed al-Miftah, who is on a hunger strike after being disappeared by the Interior Ministry.
Sahwa Net – The head of Al-Haq Party’s shoura council Mohammad Miftah has been going on a hunger strike since two months. Miftah who was kidnapped by gunmen belonging to the Interior Ministry on May 21, 2008, said he would not suspend the hunger strike until he is released…It is worth noting that the authorities suspect that Miftah belongs to the al-Houthi movement in Saada.
This is the same Miftah who Amnesty International called a prisoner of conscience. A Zaidi cleric Mohamed Miftah was released in May 2006 apparently after receiving presidential pardons. He had been serving an eight-year prison term.
And Ali Mohsen surfaces…
Mareb Press: The governmental committee assigned to evaluate and count the damages caused by the rebellion in Sa’ada province returned today to the Sa’ada, chaired by the Minister of Local Administration, Abdul Qadeer Hilal, and the Deputy of Prime Minister for Security and Stability affairs, Rashad al-Alimi, Minister of Defense, Mohammed Ahmed, and commander of the Eastern North region, Ali Muhsen al-Ahmer.
The committee will visit military and security units in the province to inspect the condition of soldiers.
Meanwhile, the cabinet studied yesterday the initial report on counting the damages caused by the armed rebellion in Sa’ada province, prepared by the committee chaired by Abdul Qader Hilal, Minister of Local Administration.
The cabinet directed the committee to carry out field visits to Bani Hushiesh district in Sana’a province to evaluate and count damages caused by the rebellion and including its findings in the report to be raised to the government.
A total of 4141 houses, and 88 farms were damaged in Northern Province of Sa’ada during the war between the Al Houthi rebels and the government troops, said a primary official report on Tuesday. The report which was carried by the state-run news agency Saba said some 201 public installations including 116 schools, 36 health utilities, and 26 mosques were also either wholly of partially damaged.
Source: IRIN
A recently formed government committee has faced problems assessing damage to buildings and property in conflict-hit Saada Governorate, northern Yemen.
Committee members had to return to the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, after being intercepted in Mashor village Saada Governorate, by pro-government tribes who said they, not the al-Houthi rebels, should have priority when it came to government assistance. The pro-government tribes did not want the committee to start assessing the damage in “pro-al-Houthi villages”, demanding instead that the government give them priority assistance as a reward for fighting on the government side.
However, a few days later, on 6 August, the committee went back to another part of Saada Governorate on the orders of the Cabinet, to try and complete its assessment.
Minister of Local Administration Abdul-Qader Hilal, who chairs the committee, said: “We will work in accordance with the president’s orders and the state’s strategy to promote peace and reconstruct Saada.”
An interim report by the committee, which was set up on 22 July, said 4,141 houses and 88 farms (including 24 poultry farms) had been damaged in the past two months alone, due to the fighting. It also said 201 public buildings were damaged, including 116 schools, 36 health centres and 26 mosques in the same period.It is unclear to what extent a ceasefire in mid-July - following a deal between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and representatives of the rebel leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi - was holding. Local media have reported continuing sporadic clashes between the two sides.
Meanwhile, local media reports indicate that some army leaders were reportedly not happy when Saleh tried to end the fighting before they could defeat the rebels.
Rebel allegations
A statement by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi’s information office on 3 August said some army leaders were trying to violate the ceasefire deal: unidentified army officers had set up four military checkpoints on the main road to Har Sufian, a pro-al-Houthi area in Amran Governorate. It said there were other violations, which had resulted in the killing of a number of citizens.
In November 2007, a government committee said 3,375 properties had been damaged in five of Saada’s 15 districts, but the assessment was cut short by the fighting.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced during the clashes in Saada Governorate since 2004. According to the 2004 population census, Saada Governorate has 81,568 houses and a population of some 700,000.
