MS Risk Blog

Houthi Leader Declares Successful Revolution in Yemen

24 September- Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels, has announced a “successful revolution” as Houthi supporters have taken key parts of Sana’a, forcing the government to “answer to popular demands.” The Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels agreed to a UN brokered deal after weeks of violence that left over 200 people dead in Yemen’s capital.

UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, announced Saturday that the deal was reached after “intense consultations with all the political parties”, including the Houthi rebels. He adds that the treaty would be a “national document that will advance the path of peaceful change, and will lay the foundations for national partnership and for security and stability in the country.”

While the details were not released, it is expected that a new government will be formed in coming days. The Houthis have been invited to play a role in the formation of the new government. In addition, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi also agreed to reverse an unpopular decision to remove fuel subsidies.

Background

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), are a rebel movement stemming from a branch of Shia Islam known as Zaidism.  The name “Houthi” originates from the group’s first leader, Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, who led the rebel group’s uprising in 2004, with the aims of obtaining greater autonomy in the Saada province of Northern Yemen and protection of Zaidi traditions, which were perceived as threatened by Sunni encroachment. Zaidis comprise a third of Yemen’s population, and ruled North Yemen for nearly a millennia until 1962.When Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi and was killed by Yemen’s military in 2004, his family took over operations.

At first glance, it appears as though the fighting is based in the broader Shi’a-Sunni divide, however the battles are more accurately defined as localised war with a regional and cultural dimensions. Over the past two years, Houthi appeal has spread beyond the Zaidi population, and they have grown to become Yemen’s most popular opposition group, gaining support from Salafi and tribal members. Currently, Houthi rebels and supporters carry enough power to impose their desires on the government and the Yemeni population.

The most recent rebellion began in mid August, after Abdul Malik al-Houthi called upon President Hadi to reverse his decision to remove fuel subsidies. Hadi’s unpopular and poorly implemented decision to raise the cost of fuel had an immediate and detrimental impact Yemen’s poor. By 18 August, the Houthi rebels had set up armed protest camps around Sana’s, and al-Houthi called for replacing the government with a new body that was representative of Yemen’s various factions.

Under pressure, on 2 September, Hadi agreed to dismiss his government, reduce fuel prices by 30%, and allow for appointment of a new prime minister. Hadi agreed that the various Yemeni factions could submit nominations from within their own ranks. The Houthis rejected this move, calling it ‘insufficient’. A week later, security forces clashed with Houthi supporters in Sana’a, resulting in several deaths. Negotiations were suspended on 15 September but resumed days later.

Weekend clashes

On Thursday 18 September, the Houthis began a four-day onslaught through areas of Sana’a. While According to witnesses, clashes initially centred on the campus of Al-Iman University, a stronghold of Sunni Islamists. By Saturday, the group had taken over state television headquarters in Sana’a, pulling broadcasts off the air and trapping employees in the building. The group also seized government headquarters and overran a military camp, as well as homes belonging to Yemeni General Ali Mushin al-Ahmar, and tribal sheiks loyal to him. Al-Ahmar is the former head of the disbanded (yet still operational) First Armoured Division, and has led Yemeni forces in clashes against the Houthis since their inception. The General appears to have escaped the fighting; his whereabouts are unknown.

On Saturday, Yemen’s Supreme Security Commission imposed an after dark curfew in parts of Sana’a. The Ministry of Education announced school closures until fighting subsided, and the Yemeni Defence Ministry has put security forces on high alert. Meanwhile, on the Interior Ministry’s website, Interior Minister Hussein al-Terb urged security forces to “cooperate” with the Houthis “to strengthen security and stability, preserve public property and guard government installations… and to consider Ansar Allah friends of the police”.

On Sunday, Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa resigned amid peace talks. In his resignation letter he states, “The partnership between myself and the president in leading the country only lasted for a short period, before it was replaced by autocracy to the extent that the government and I no longer knew anything about the military and security situation.”

Despite the confusion and violence, the fragile peace agreement was signed on Sunday. The deal essentially gives the Houthi rebels a greater stake in mainstream politics. Under the UN-backed deal, Yemen will form a new government, and the Houthis and southern separatists will nominate a new prime minister. Al-Houthi stated, “If it is implemented, this agreement will also change the government, which the people called to fall, to fail, because it stood on an unjust, non-consensual basis.” Al-Houthi called for cooperation between the Houthi rebels and Islah, the main Sunni party in Yemen.

Ebola Outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria Contained

While the deadliest Ebola epidemic ever has now killed 2,793 people in West Africa, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials disclosed Monday that outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria have been basically contained.  A statement released by the UN health agency also published the results of the latest meeting of its Ebola emergency committee.

According to new figures released by the WHO, as of 18 September a total of 5,762 people have been infected with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in five Western countries.  Guinea, where the outbreak initially began at the art of this year, along with neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone currently account for the most cases and continue to see their numbers rise.  Liberia has especially been the hardest hit, with 3,022 cases and 1,578 deaths.

The WHO did note however “the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained.” According to officials, Senegal has not reported any new cases of the deadly virus since it registered its first and only case on August 29 – a Guinean student who has since recovered.  Meanwhile Nigeria, where twenty-one people have been infected, eight of whom have died, has not reported any new cases since September 8.  While no reports of new cases in Senegal and Nigeria does signify that both countries are slowly recovering, the WHO has not yet deemed them transmission free as the incubation period for Ebola is 21 days and double this time must pass without any new cases arising before a country can be deemed transmission free.

In a statement released Monday, the WHO also indicated that during a meeting of its Ebola emergency committee last week, officials had determined that the outbreak remains to be a “public health emergency of international concern.”  The WHO has disclosed that the committee reiterated its opposition to general bans on international travel or trade, noting that people infected with Ebola, or those who had come into contact with Ebola patients, should not be permitted to travel.  The committee also warned that blocking flights to or from affected areas and other travel restrictions only served to “isolate affected countries, resulting in detrimental economic consequences, and hinder relief and response efforts risking further international spread.”  The emergency committee did stress that in cases where measures like quarantines are deemed necessary, countries must ensure that “they are proportionate and evidence-based, and that accurate information, essential services and commodities, including food and water are provided to the affected populations,” insisting that “adequate security measures” should be put in place in order to ensure the safety and protection of heath workers, who face high infection rates and sometimes violence from frustrated and frightened populations.  Last week, eight members of an Ebola education team, said to include local health officials and journalists, were found dead after they were attacked by angry locals in southern.  This is the first such incident where health workers combatting EVD were killed.

ISIS supporters carry out actions in Algeria, Egypt 22 September

French national Herve Gourdel, 55, has been kidnapped by a militant group in Tizi Ouzou, eastern Algeria. Gourdel, a mountain guide, was travelling in a vehicle with Algerian nationals when he was abducted in the village of Ait Ouabane, and taken into a mountainous region. A week prior to the kidnapping, the abductors, a group calling themselves Jund al-Khilifa (Caliphate Soldiers) announced their split from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and swore allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/Daaesh). Shortly following the French ministry’s announcement of Gourdel’s kidnapping, Caliphate Soldiers released a four-minute video entitled, “A message from the Caliphate Soldiers in Algeria to the dog Hollande.” In the video, a spokesman declares, “We, the Caliphate Soldiers in Algeria, in compliance with the order of our leader Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi … give Hollande, president of the criminal French state, 24 hours to cease its hostility against the Islamic State; otherwise the fate of his citizen will be slaughter. To save his life, you must officially announce the end of your hostility against the Islamic State.” Gourdel, who was seated between to masked gunmen, was directed to read a statement to Hollande: “I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilifa, an Algerian armed group. This armed group is asking me to ask you to not intervene in Iraq. They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr. President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation. I thank you.” The video has been authenticated by the French Foreign Ministry. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, in New York for UN General Assembly, stated, “We will do everything we can to liberate hostages, but a terrorist group cannot change France’s position.” A statement from President Hollande said that France and Algeria are cooperating at all levels to find and free Gourdel. Meanwhile, following France’s first air raids over ISIS targets in Syria on Friday, at least 30 French embassies across the Middle East and Africa raised have their threat levels. The kidnapping occurred a day after a 42 minute ‘call-to-arms’ video was released by ISIS. In the video, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called upon fighters to attack or kill citizens of countries taking part in the US-led anti-ISIS coalition: “If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him.” In the 21 September video, Adnani also called upon insurgents in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to increase the number of attacks against Egyptian security forces and to continue beheadings. Adnani says, “Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure.” The statement underscores the recent intelligence which suggests that ISIS ISIS militants are developing stronger ties in the Sinai region, and raises fears that the group is spreading its ties across North Africa. Sinai-based terror group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance ISIS earlier this year, and it is known that ISIS, while not supplying the group with weapons or personnel, has provided advice on how to target Egyptians. Hours before the announcement, terrorist group Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) claimed responsibility for a bomb blast near the Foreign Ministry in Cairo on Sunday that killed two senior police officers and wounded several other policemen. Ajnad Misr stated they used an explosive device on “officers of the criminal apparatus,” and added that the attacks would not stop until “the ruling tyrants fall and God’s sharia is established.” ISIS has notoriously been conducting gruesome beheadings as a form of ‘terrorism as theatre’ propaganda. The group released has released three videos which showed the beheadings of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. In addition, it is known that they have also beheaded at least two Lebanese soldiers. They have recently threatened to behead a fourth hostage. It is believed that there are fewer than 10 hostages still held by ISIS.

Sierra Leone’s Three-Day Lockdown Declared Success by Authorities

While authorities in Sierra Leone have disclosed that a controversial three-day lockdown, which concluded Sunday, was a “success,” frustrated residents reported food shortages in some neighbourhoods of Sierra Leone’s capital city.

A three-day curfew, which began Friday in a bid to contain the spread of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, has been declared a success by authorities. According to the head of Sierra Leone’s Emergency Operations Centre Stephen Gaojia, the exercise was largely successful and the compliance and receptiveness of Sierra Leoneans was “overwhelming.” Speaking to reporters, Mr Gaoji further disclosed that officials “…were able to discover quite a lot of people who have been infected…” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sarian Kamara confirmed that authorities managed to discover 22 new cases of the virus during the curfew, adding that between 60 and 70 Ebola victims had been buried over the past two days. There was only one incident of violence reported over the three-day period. On Saturday, local civilians attacked health workers trying to bury five bodies in a district located 20 kilometres east of the capital city Freetown. Police reinforcements later arrived to the area and the health workers were eventually able to compete the burial.

Although on Sunday rumours had circulated in Freetown that officials were opting to extend the lockdown, a Health Ministry statement issued Sunday evening confirmed that the lockdown had ended. The statement further disclosed that 75 percent of the targeted 1.5 million households had been contacted by outbreak teams, adding that outreach groups would continue to operate in “hot spots” across the country. Some residents also complained of food shortages in some neighbourhoods of Freetown. While the World Food Programme provided food packages including rice, beans and a form of porridge throughout the three-day lockdown, staffers were not going door-to-door and were instead focusing on serving houses placed under quarantine by medical teams. While agency officials confirmed that their workers had distributed two weeks’ worth of rations to 20,000 households, many residents complained that the provisions they received were insufficient.

The West African country announced the extreme measure in early September, announcing that the lockdown would effectively confine its population of six million to their homes for a period of 72 hours in a bid to stem the further spread of the deadly Ebola virus, which has already claimed more than 2,600 lives in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Only essential workers, such as health professionals, were exempt from the lockdown, as were some 30,000 volunteers who went door-to-door to provide advice on halting the contagion and handling out bars of soap.

Despite most residents in the capital city welcoming teams of health workers and volunteers bearing information about the deadly virus, rumours continued to persist in some areas of the city, with some believing that soap which was distributed by health teams, was poisoned. Persistent rumours such as this one suggest that public education campaigns have not been entirely successful.

According to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, the Ebola virus has killed more than 560 people in Sierra Leone and more than 2,600 across West Africa, in what is the largest outbreak of the deadly virus ever recorded. The disease, which is also affecting Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal, is believed to have sickened more than 5,500 people. Sierra Leone’s three-day curfew is the most aggressive measure to be taken against the virus by a West African country.

Guinea Confirms Health Workers Killed While Raising Awareness About Ebola

Days after a team of officials went missing while visiting a village in Guinea in a bid to raise awareness about Ebola, officials confirmed late Thursday that all nine members were killed by local villagers. In August, MS Risk analysts warned that attacks on Ebola workers in West Africa may spark similar reactions to those carried out against polio workers, in which a number of volunteers have been killed while administering polio vaccinations. This death of nine members of a team attempting to raise awareness about Ebola signifies that the threat to health workers and local authorities trying to combat the disease is high, and will likely intensify as the virus continues to spread. Further such incidents will be likely be reported in the affected countries. Steps to combat myths about the disease, which are common across the region, must be taken in order to ensure health workers’ safety and to curb the virus’ spread.

On Tuesday the group of nine Guineans, which included two journalists, local officials and several health workers, fled the village of Wome, located in the southern Nzerekore region, after their group was pelted with stones. A journalist who managed to escape later told officials that she could hear villages looking for the group while she was hiding. On Wednesday a government delegation, led by the country’s health minister Remy Lamah, had been dispatched to the region however they were unable to reach the village by road as the main bridge was blocked.

Officials disclosed Friday that seven of the bodies were located in a septic tank in a village school near the city of Nzerekore while the other two were located in the bush.   According to officials, the bodies showed signs of being attacked with machetes and clubs. Six people have been arrested, with on the ground sources reporting that the village is now deserted. According to local police officials, at least 21 people were wounded during the unrest. While the motive for the killings has not been confirmed, it is believed that the villagers’ suspicions of officials attempting to combat the disease lead to the group being attacked and its members murdered. Many Guineans believe that local and foreign health workers are part of a conspiracy, which either deliberately introduced the outbreak, or invented it as a means of luring Africans to clinics in order to harvest their blood and organs. Some still do not believe that the disease exists despite more than 2,600 people killed by the virus.

In recent weeks, tensions have been rising across West Africa as the Ebola epidemic continues to rise. A number of incidents of frustrated civilians attacking local officials have been reported however this is the first incident in which officials were killed for attempting to combat the deadly virus. Last month, riots erupted in Nzerekore, Guinea, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Wome, after rumours emerged that medics who were disinfecting a market were contaminating people. There have also been a number of reports of people in the region refusing to cooperate with health authorities over fears that a diagnosis means certain death.

Myths such as these have emerged over the past few months and have greatly impacted the spread of the current outbreak. Officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO) have confirmed that the already difficult conditions are made more difficult by public misunderstand caused by “rumours on social media claiming that certain products or practices can prevent or cure Ebola Virus Disease.” Such myths have not only impacted Guinea, but other countries, including Nigeria, where at least two people died as a result of drinking salt water after stories circulated that doing so would protect against the deadly disease. Other supposed cures for the virus include raw onions, coffee, condensed milk and holy water. Some civilians have opted to hide infected family members at home, or prefer to take them to local doctors instead of an Ebola treatment centre. Health officials in Sierra Leone disclosed in August that the Ebola outbreak spread from Guinea after an herbalist in the remote eastern border village of Sokoma claimed to have powers to heal the deadly virus. Officials have since confirmed that the virus spread in Sierra Leone after cases from Guinea cross over the border, seeking treatment.

Fears over the deadly virus have also sparked riots and attacks on health workers. As the Ebola outbreak continues, such attacks may spark similar reactions to those carried out against polio workers.

At the start of the outbreak, a team from MSF had to stop working at an isolation ward in Guinea after local residents mistakenly believed that they had brought the virus with them. Groups of health workers from MSF, the Red Cross and from the ministry of health have been pelted with rocks as they attempted to reach Ebola-hit areas. In Liberia, a number of Ebola patients escaped a healthcare facility after it was attacked by rioters. Due to the region’s recent history of bloody civil war, some believe that the army’s deployment to control the affected areas is a sign that the government is deliberately infecting people in a bid to have an excuse to enforce martial law.