For once a report about a positive development in Yemen, where everywhere else the horrible war continues:
‘Marib Model’
Over the years, Marib’s local government has developed its own strategy to provide security and stability for the province’s population, driven by well-respected and capable leaders, empowered by national decentralisation, providing Marib with an unprecedented level of provincial autonomy and financial independence, and permitting the development of an effective and accountable security force; cross-community trust-building and consensus-driven decision-making and financial investment in the local economy. Socio-economic grievances – including those based on poverty, isolation and unemployment – had often been taken advantage of and used as recruitment tools by AQAP. The Marib Model has had far-reaching knock-on effects, driving economic growth and development, and creating employment and educational opportunities.
It was not until 2015 that the local strategy would get teeth. In 2012, Sheik Sultan al-Aradah was appointed Governor of Marib by Yemen’s transitional President, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Al-Aradah’s grounding within Marib’s tribal system, experience resolving tribal disputes, deep knowledge of, and commitment to, the province and military skills – seen in his role in the liberation of Marib from the Houthis in 2015 – gave him local legitimacy, has become the “backbone” of Marib’s successful development. Contrary to other leaders in Yemen, al-Aradah lives in the community he serves and is invested in Marib’s long-term development, by taking advantage of the “pre-existing tribal system”, rather than attempting to create a new political ecosystem. The community’s trust in security forces and provincial leaders has increased, the crime rate has dropped by 70 percent.
Taking advantage of the national decentralised system developed by Yemen’s National Transitional Council, al-Aradah in 2015 used Marib’s new autonomy to retain 20 percent of the province’s oil and gas revenues.[40] This secured a sustainable provincial income and enabled Marib to expand government services, pay all its employees monthly salaries, and employ some of Yemen’s most capable security officials to develop, train and run local security forces.[41] Marib’s ability to pay its employees was no small feat. From 2016 to 2018, receiving monthly wages was almost unheard of in Yemen, with the vast majority of public employees going up to two years without pay.[42] In 2020, the national Government is still struggling to pay public-sector salaries.[43]
It was not until 2015 that the local straetegy would get teeth. In 2012, Sheik Sultan al-Aradah was appointed Governor of Marib by Yemen’s transitional President, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Al-Aradah’s grounding within Marib’s tribal system, experience resolving tribal disputes, deep knowledge of, and commitment to, the province and military skills – seen in his role in the liberation of Marib from the Houthis in 2015 – gave him local legitimacy, has become the “backbone” of Marib’s successful development. Contrary to other leaders in Yemen, al-Aradah lives in the community he serves and is invested in Marib’s long-term development, by taking advantage of the “pre-existing tribal system”, rather than attempting to create a new political ecosystem. The community’s trust in security forces and provincial leaders has increased, the crime rate has dropped by 70 percent.
Taking advantage of the national decentralised system developed by Yemen’s National Transitional Council, al-Aradah in 2015 used Marib’s new autonomy to retain 20 percent of the province’s oil and gas revenues.[40] This secured a sustainable provincial income and enabled Marib to expand government services, pay all its employees monthly salaries, and employ some of Yemen’s most capable security officials to develop, train and run local security forces. Marib’s ability to pay its employees was no small feat. From 2016 to 2018, receiving monthly wages was almost unheard of in Yemen, with the vast majority of public employees going up to two years without pay. In 2020, the national Government is still struggling to pay public-sector salaries.
The new-won provincial income allowed Marib to address other local grievances, such as poverty, unemployment, weak essential infrastructure and lack of public services. By increasing the size and number of public provincial departments and initiating essential (and less essential) infrastructure projects – including building a hospital, a FIFA grade football ground and a university with a 5000-student capacity – Marib created a sustainable employment model. It also created educational opportunities across social sectors, including those for women. This, in turn, helped address several local socio-economic grievances.
Interviews with local citizens showed a clear trend that people felt safe inside Marib’s city walls. Its population surged from 40,000 a few years earlier, to as many as 2 million. Internally displaced peoples (IDPs) from across Yemen have sought refuge in Marib, not from AQAP, but from the civil war. With them, the new arrivals brought resources, culture and skills, setting up businesses along the city’s fast-expanding network of streets. The influx of Yemenis from more liberal parts of the country, such as Aden and Sana’a, has also had a significant impact on gender norms: this was repeated by women of all ages, from groups of teenage girls socialising in the park, to grandmothers. For the first time, women, including native Maribis, were working en masse outside the home and pursuing higher education in the province.
Conclusion
The primary grievances felt by Marib’s population at the turn of the century concerned the lack of governance, stability, security and financial opportunities. Good leadership, cross-community support and trust, consensus-seeking policymaking, and a sustainable provincial income model enabled the development of a locally-minded strategy. Furthermore, the Model has created an environment conducive to economic growth, providing a safe haven for millions of IDPs and job opportunities for young people. Unfortunately, U.S. drone strikes remain a source of fear and, in the eyes of some rural populations, are an arbitrary and unjustified exercise of deadly force. Notwithstanding Marib’s success, the US continues to conduct drone strikes and special forces raids in the province.
In fact, upon learning of Marib’s success, other towns in Yemen have attempted to adopt a similar model. Local activists saw the creation of a network of safe haven cities as a way to provide security for people facing violence across the war-ridden country. Such a model would only be possible with international support. International interventions are continually designed and executed without taking into account existing local initiatives or consulting local communities. Yet, almost without failure, local communities have devised their own responses, drawing on local expertise, and often designed with longevity and sustainability rarely seen in international responses.
By drawing on local expertise, and investing in, building on, and working with, local communities, a dynamic international response could look to address the multitude of underlying factors that drive violence and extremism. By supporting good governance, providing sustainable employment, assisting in the creation of stable avenues of funding, investing in infrastructure and promoting accountability the international community could help build community resilience, mitigate factors that may drive people to support violent extremism and contribute towards greater peace.