Shelter and stability elude Syrians made homeless by Feb. 6 Turkiye-Syria earthquakes

Special Shelter and stability elude Syrians made homeless by Feb. 6 Turkiye-Syria earthquakes
Locals affected by the February 6 earthquake attending a mass Iftar in the town of Atareb in the western countryside of Aleppo province, on March 31, 2023. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 11 May 2023
Follow

Shelter and stability elude Syrians made homeless by Feb. 6 Turkiye-Syria earthquakes

Shelter and stability elude Syrians made homeless by Feb. 6 Turkiye-Syria earthquakes
  • Around 1,900 buildings were destroyed in Syria’s northwest and more than 8,800 others left unusable
  • The sheer scale of housing shortage has overwhelmed authorities, keeping many families in limbo

LONDON: Since two devastating earthquakes struck northwest Syria and southern Turkiye on February 6, survivors have been living in temporary shelters and unofficial camps awaiting news of resettlement.

The sheer scale of shortage of accommodation has overwhelmed NGOs and local authorities, keeping families who lost their homes in limbo. Many traumatized survivors of the disaster are still too afraid to return indoors.

When the tremors struck Syria’s western city of Aleppo in the early hours of the fateful day, “people took refuge in parks and cemeteries, reassuring their children it was no more than a prolonged picnic,” Fatima Mardini, who volunteers in the unofficial camps, told Arab News. “So long as nothing but the sky was over their heads.”

The earthquakes compounded an already dire situation in northwest Syria, where 12 years of civil war had reduced many homes and public buildings to rubble, with some households and communities displaced multiple times by the fighting.

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, estimated in February that some 5.37 million people in Syria were in need of shelter assistance in the earthquakes’ aftermath.

About 1,900 buildings were destroyed in the country’s northwest and more than 8,800 others rendered unusable, according to the Global Shelter Cluster, an inter-agency standing committee that coordinates shelter responses.

The earthquakes caused an estimated $5.1 billion in direct physical damage in Syria, according to a World Bank Global Rapid Assessment report published on March 3. Residential buildings accounted for almost half of those damaged.

A recent report by the UK-based NGO Action for Humanity found that 98 percent of people now living in camps had been displaced by the earthquakes.




People walk along an alley between tents at a camp for the displaced erected in the aftermath of the February 6 deadly earthquake, in Jindayris, northwestern Syria on February 19, 2023. (AFP)

The report, published in March, revealed that nine out of 10 people in the northwest’s camps “had already been displaced by the conflict at least once when they were displaced by the earthquakes.”

Some 12 percent of these camp residents had been displaced once or twice, 65 percent between three to seven times, and about 23 percent forced to flee their homes eight or more times, the report added.

In rebel-controlled areas of Syria’s northwest, tents have become almost a luxury, with prices ranging from $150 to $300, and sometimes even $500, at a time when the average monthly income is $50 to $75, Yaser Alshhada, country director at SKT Welfare, told Arab News.

Meanwhile, more than four million people in Syria’s northwest continue to depend on humanitarian assistance to meet their most basic needs, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

The majority of these temporary shelters are schools, mosques and stadiums, where overcrowding, a lack of access to clean water and a damaged sewage system have increased the risk of disease.

FASTFACTS

  • More than 7,000 deaths and 10,400 injuries recorded in Syria from earthquake impact.
  • 4.1 million people in northwest Syria were reliant on humanitarian aid.
  • UN has distributed more than $16.56m to 500,000 affected Syrians in the northwestern regions since January.

Recently, the World Health Organization and the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, in partnership with other international NGOs and local health authorities, launched a cholera vaccination campaign in the most hard-hit areas for fear of a new outbreak.

Things were perhaps only slightly better in government-controlled areas. Aleppo-based volunteer Mardini told Arab News that she had spoken with young women who had not been able to bathe for a month since the earthquakes.

“One of them proudly told me she showered two days ago. When I asked how, she said that, although she feared another aftershock, she had quickly washed herself in the bathroom of their half-destroyed home before running back to the shelter.”

During the weeks immediately after the earthquakes, shelter conditions were catastrophic, Mohammad Al-Jaddou, a civil activist who founded the Ammerha Foundation to provide emergency response in Jableh, south of Latakia, and Aleppo, told Arab News.

“Large numbers of people were crammed into rooms,” he said, adding that the shelters in both Jableh and Aleppo were not equipped with sufficient facilities.




Displaced Syrians living in war-damaged buildings, are pictured in Syria’s northern city of Raqa on March 1, 2023, amid fears that the already fragile dwellings will not withstand an earthquake. (AFP)

In Jableh, Al-Jaddou’s team distributed meals and shelter kits to displaced families, many of whom, fearing aftershocks, were staying in mosques and parks despite the harsh winter weather.

Entire neighborhoods had vacated their homes, even those that were still intact, for weeks after the initial earthquakes because of the absence of utilities and the residual trauma.

“In well-serviced parts of the capital, Damascus, we merely get two hours of power every four hours at best,” Al-Jaddou said. “But things are even worse in quake-hit areas in Jableh and Aleppo.”

Three months after the earthquakes, local associations have managed to rehouse a few families, while others have chosen to move in with relatives.




Syrians who were made homeless after the devastating earthquake hit their country, receive humanitarian aid as they settle in a makeshift camp set up in a school in the town of Atareb in the western countryside of Aleppo province, on February 10, 2023. (AFP)

However, these associations are only able to provide housing support for six months. After that, households have to find a way to pay their rent amid tight financial conditions and a collapsed economy. Many people have been left homeless.

Al-Jaddou does not see the housing situation improving in the foreseeable future. “There are buildings that have been destroyed since 2011 with no efforts to restore them,” he said.

According to Aleppo-based volunteer Mardini, in government-controlled parts of the governorate, individual initiatives have managed to rehouse about 100 families, while those who can afford rent have resorted to cheap housing in poorer neighborhoods.

The government has also provided year-long grants to a number of households, while temporarily accommodating others in unfinished apartments, Marwan Alrez, general manager of the Mart Volunteer Team, told Arab News.

However, after an initial flurry of goodwill, state assistance soon dried up. “There used to be many shelters, including schools, to accommodate families,” Alrez said. “There were many tents. This is not the case anymore.




Syrians build a temporary camp, to house families made homeless by the deadly earthquake, in the town of Harim in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkiye, on February 8, 2023. (AFP)

“Shelters inside Aleppo city have been suspended. There are now only two shelters outside the city in the countryside — in Jibrin and in another town.

“Two days ago, I visited a school on a campaign to support about 150 children, but I have been told that the facility was scheduled to shut soon,” even though many of the families sheltered there are unemployed and have lost everything.

On March 24, Action for Humanity opened the Massa Village in the Al-Bab district of northwest Syria to accommodate 500 displaced families who have been living in tents and informal shelters.

Despite local and international efforts to house people in the wake of the earthquakes, the scale of need remains massive. Yet funding from international donors has fallen far short.

In a statement issued on March 7, a group of 47 Syrian and international NGOs, including Action for Humanity, Hand in Hand and the Danish Refugee Council, said “funding for the humanitarian response in Syria has been lagging.”

The agencies said that the Syria Earthquake Flash Appeal was “only 52 percent pledged, while only a third of the $206 million pledged has been obligated to partners and is available for response.

“Syrian NGOs are disproportionately neglected in funding allocations despite providing the bulk of the response in Syria, whether directly or as partners of the UN and international NGOs.”

 


Dozens arrested as protesters mark Iran’s ‘Bloody Friday’: activists

Dozens arrested as protesters mark Iran’s ‘Bloody Friday’: activists
Updated 39 sec ago
Follow

Dozens arrested as protesters mark Iran’s ‘Bloody Friday’: activists

Dozens arrested as protesters mark Iran’s ‘Bloody Friday’: activists
  • The violence marked the single deadliest day of months-long protests that erupted in Iran last year

PARIS: Iranian security forces made dozens of arrests Saturday as protesters in the southeast commemorated the killing of dozens of demonstrators in the region one year ago, human rights groups said.
At least 104 people were killed, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO, in what is known as “Bloody Friday,” when security forces fired on a protest in Zahedan, the main city of Sistan-Baluchistan province, on September 30 last year.
The violence marked the single deadliest day of months-long protests that erupted in Iran last year.
The Zahedan protests were triggered by reports a teenage girl had been raped in custody by a police commander and took place in parallel to nationwide demonstrations sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s dress code.
Activists have long complained that the ethnic Baluch population in Sistan-Baluchistan, who adhere to Sunni Islam not the Shiite branch of the faith dominant in Iran, suffer from discrimination.
Security forces fired tear gas and live rounds for a second straight day to disperse protesters who turned out in Zahedan to mark the anniversary, the Baluch-focused rights group Haalvsh said.
Throughout Saturday, businesses in Zahedan and other towns observed a general strike, it said, adding that “dozens” of people had been arrested.
The group posted footage with the sound of gunfire clearly audible amid a heavy security presence in the city.
Security forces had already used live fire to disperse protesters on Friday, wounding at least 25 people, including children, according to the Baloch Activists Campaign group. There was no immediate word on any casualties in Saturday’s unrest.
Even as the protest movement dwindled elsewhere in Iran, residents of Zahedan have held regular Friday protests throughout the past 12 months.
The city’s Friday prayer leader, Molavi Abdolhamid, who has been outspoken in his support of the protests over the past year, issued a new call for justice over “Bloody Friday,” telling the faithful to “know your rights.”
Footage posted on social media on Friday showed chaotic scenes as hospitals filled with injured, including children, while people on the streets sought to escape to safety amid the sound of heavy gunfire.
IHR said that the protests in Zahedan and other cities were again “brutally crushed” with authorities using “live ammunition, pellet bullets and tear gas against unarmed protesters.”
The executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi, condemned the “horrifying display of indiscriminate violence... as the state attempts to suppress peaceful demonstrations.”
“It is imperative for the international community to shine a spotlight on this violence and to hold Iranian officials accountable in international courts, invoking the principle of international jurisdiction,” he said.


No reprieve from hardship in South Sudan for people fleeing Sudan conflict

No reprieve from hardship in South Sudan for people fleeing Sudan conflict
Updated 01 October 2023
Follow

No reprieve from hardship in South Sudan for people fleeing Sudan conflict

No reprieve from hardship in South Sudan for people fleeing Sudan conflict
  • South Sudan is no stranger to humanitarian crisis, having had its own share since achieving statehood in 2011
  • Experts say the country is in no position to handle the large and sudden influx of displaced people from Sudan

NAIROBI: Civilians displaced by the conflict in Sudan have sought sanctuary in the world’s youngest country next door, the Republic of South Sudan, only to face a daunting new set of challenges.

An estimated 250,000 people — including a large number of South Sudanese who had been living in Sudan — have crossed the border since fighting erupted in Sudan in April, with many now housed in overcrowded camps lacking food, sanitation and basic healthcare services.

High malnutrition rates and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and measles among the new arrivals testify to the dire health conditions, which aid agencies operating in the area say is one of the many serious causes for concern.

Luggage is transported on a donkey-drawn cart at Sudan's Qalabat border crossing with Ethiopia on July 31, 2023 amid fighting between the Sudan armed forces and paramilitary RSF. (AFP/File photo)

The UN has given warning that the number of people fleeing Sudan could double by the end of the year unless a settlement between the warring parties is reached soon.

Aside from being unprepared to absorb this tide of humanity in search of shelter and sustenance, South Sudan’s own political and economic shortcomings render it an ineffective broker in ending the conflict in Sudan.

This is despite the mediation efforts of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, who recently hosted Sudan’s de-facto leader and head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in the capital Juba.

INNUMBERS

250,000 Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese returnees who have crossed the border since the conflict began.

5 million Total number of people uprooted by the conflict, including 1 million who have fled to neighboring countries.

7,500 People killed since the onset of violence, according to conservative estimates of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

South Sudan is no stranger to hardship and adversity, having had its own bloody conflicts since gaining independence in 2011. Like its northern neighbor, from which it seceded, South Sudan is also grappling with political instability and ethnic conflicts.

Add to the mix South Sudan’s limited resources and primitive infrastructure, and the country is in no position to handle such a large and sudden influx of impoverished people.

“The majority of these refugees are women, children, and young adults, with a notable concentration of youth between the ages of 12 and 22,” John Dabi, South Sudan’s deputy commissioner for refugee affairs, told Arab News.

Particularly, Juba and the border town of Renk have come under pressure from a sudden explosion in population, which has led to an acute shortage of basic necessities, including food, medicine and shelter.

Then there is the impact of a fickle climate, as South Sudan’s rainy season leads to the flooding of entire districts and turns roads into impassable mud tracks, hindering aid deliveries and access to remote refugee camps.

Predictably, South Sudan’s economy is a shambles, despite the recent launch of the National Economic Conference, which is meant to accelerate development.

Firas Raad, the World Bank representative in South Sudan, recently urged the government to strive for more stable macroeconomic conditions, robust public financial management, and effective governance reforms to improve conditions for its people.

The parlous state of the country’s economy calls into question Juba’s credibility as a mediator in Sudan’s conflict, Suzanne Jambo, a South Sudanese policy analyst and former government adviser, told Arab News.

“South Sudan still struggles to achieve a stable transition to a permanent status, including a unified army, agreed-upon constitutional arrangements, and fairly elected representatives, not to mention conducting the elections,” she said.

Instability in South Sudan is not just influenced by governance and economics. The ethnic and tribal contours of the Sudanese conflict are all too evident, with millions fleeing to neighboring countries and exposing the political divisions within Sudan and along its porous borders.

For instance, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has been recruiting fighters from among Darfur’s Arab tribes.

Given the possibility of further escalation of ethnic tensions, experts believe coordinated efforts are essential for the proper distribution of humanitarian aid as well as conflict prevention and resolution strategies.

Sudanese civilians arriving in South Sudan represent a mosaic of backgrounds mirroring the country’s ethnic, racial and religious diversity. To minimize the chances of inter-communal violence, separate settlements, rather than traditional refugee camps, have been established.

“A critical aspect of managing the refugee crisis is preventing inter-community conflicts,” said Dabi, the deputy commissioner for refugee affairs. However, the most pressing issue facing displaced Sudanese in South Sudan is the scarcity of essential resources, he added.

The situation of people who crossed over from Sudan into other neighboring countries appears to be equally dire.

In Chad, where more than 400,000 people have fled the violence in Darfur, aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres says the situation has become so desperate that “people are feeding their children on insects, grass, and leaves.”

Amid severe shortages, “some have gone five weeks without receiving food,” Susana Borges, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Adre, said in a statement. Camps also lack water, sanitation, shelter, and medical care.

“The most urgent health needs we are dealing with are malaria, diarrhea, and malnutrition,” Borges added. According to the UN, dozens of children under the age of five have already died of malnutrition in Chadian camps.

The conflict in Sudan, now in its fifth month, was triggered by a plan to incorporate the RSF into the SAF.

On April 15 a long-running power struggle between the Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, suddenly escalated, prompting the evacuation of foreign nationals and embassy staff.

At least 7,500 people have been killed since the conflict began, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and the troubled western Darfur region, where the worst of the violence has been taking place, have seen “intensified shelling” as the SAF and the RSF target each other’s bases with “artillery and rocket fire.”

In central Khartoum, the SAF controls the skies and has carried out regular air strikes, while RSF fighters dominate the streets.

In South Darfur’s regional capital, Nyala, residents say fighter jets have been targeting “RSF leadership.” However, reports from the ground suggest civilians are routinely caught in the crossfire.

UN figures show the fighting has uprooted more than five million people from their homes, including one million who have crossed international borders into neighboring countries.

Over the weekend, a cholera outbreak was reported in eastern Sudan and investigations launched to check whether it had spread to Khartoum and South Kordofan state.

The conflict has also seen a surge in gender-based violence, as confirmed by numerous credible reports of rape, human trafficking, and increase in early marriage.

Despite multiple diplomatic efforts to broker a truce, the conflict has continued and intensified, leaving those displaced with little prospect of returning to their homes any time soon.

As South Sudan struggles to accommodate its own citizens previously living in Sudan, a recent visit to the country by Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, suggests the international community is taking notice.

However, Peter Van der Auweraert, the UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, has cautioned there could be a significant decline in humanitarian assistance for the country next year.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, says humanitarian aid organizations are struggling to meet the needs of the displaced, with only 19 percent of the $1 billion requested from donors so far received.

 


Algeria expands English-language learning as France’s influence ebbs

Algeria expands English-language learning as France’s influence ebbs
Updated 30 September 2023
Follow

Algeria expands English-language learning as France’s influence ebbs

Algeria expands English-language learning as France’s influence ebbs
  • Mali this year changed its constitution to remove French from its list of official languages, and Morocco made English classes compulsory in high schools

ALGIERS: More than a year after Algeria launched a pilot program to teach English in elementary schools, the country is hailing it as a success and expanding it in a move that reflects a widening linguistic shift underway in former French colonies throughout Africa.

Students returning to third and fourth-grade classrooms this fall will participate in two 45-minute English classes each week as the country creates new teacher training programs at universities and eyes more transformational changes in the years ahead. Additionally, the government is strengthening enforcement of a preexisting law against private schools that operate primarily in French.

“Teaching English is a strategic choice in the country’s new education policy,” Education Minister Abdelkrim Belabed said last week, lauding the move as an immense success.

English is the world’s most widely spoken language, accounts for the majority of content on the internet, and remains a lingua franca in business and science. As France’s economic and political influence wanes throughout Africa, Algeria is among a longer list of countries gradually transitioning toward English as their primary foreign language.

This year, neighboring Mali changed its constitution to remove French from its list of official languages, and Morocco made English classes compulsory in high schools.

Algeria has more French speakers than all but two nations — France itself and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the International Organization of the French Language, nearly 15 million out of the country’s 44 million speak it. Its officials frame English classes as a practical rather than political shift, noting the language’s importance in scientific and technical fields.

But questions about France’s position in Algerian society have long been polarizing, as teachers and former education policy officials acknowledge.

Retired high school principal Mohammed Arezki Ferdi believes Algeria should have begun the shift to English decades ago. 

The current initiative was launched by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who came to power in 2019. 

Previous leaders also tried to expand English but failed to overcome the French-educated elites who had long wielded power in the country.

“We lost a lot of time,” Ferdi said. 

“We should have introduced English in primary schools when President (Abdelaziz) Bouteflika laid out his reform after coming to power in 1991. But at that time, French-speaking factions in Algeria had a lot of decision-making power in institutions.”

The expansion of English language learning comes as tensions increasingly flare between France and Algeria. 

The two share security interests over the political upheavals shaping contemporary West Africa. 

However, in recent years, they have sparred repeatedly over immigration, extradition, and how each country memorializes colonialism and the brutal war that resulted in Algeria’s independence in 1962. Algeria plans to expand its current program to fifth grade next year. 

It will continue instructing students in French for three hours each week in elementary schools.

When English-language learning was introduced last year, Algerian officials reaffirmed their commitment to French and said it would continue to be taught widely. 

But in remarks this week at the beginning of the school year, Kamal Bedari, Algeria’s minister of Higher Education, said expanding the program was to enable elementary school students to take technical courses later on in English — not French.

Though few dispute that English is essential, some worry about how Algeria is implementing such a shift and caution against declaring victory too soon. Ahmed Tessa, a former adviser to Algeria’s Ministry of Education, believes getting students to master English can only happen gradually and will likely require more than simply adding classes.

“We need to get back to basics,” he said. “This is no small task.”

Regardless of how quickly schools transition to English, signs of pushback against French are clear elsewhere.

Authorities have slowly replaced French with English in the official titles of various government ministries. And on his trip last year to Algiers, the country had French President Emmanuel Macron provide remarks from a podium noting his title and the date in English and Arabic, one of Algeria’s two official languages, along with indigenous Tamazight.


Lion cubs, rare eagle in illegal shipment seized in Lebanon

Lion cubs, rare eagle in illegal shipment seized in Lebanon
Updated 11 sec ago
Follow

Lion cubs, rare eagle in illegal shipment seized in Lebanon

Lion cubs, rare eagle in illegal shipment seized in Lebanon
  • Smuggled animals in ‘terrible’ condition after being found hidden in cages, boxes
  • Minister pledges crackdown under global agreements to curb wildlife trafficking

BEIRUT: Lebanon has pledged to crack down on trafficking in wild animals following the seizure of an illegal shipment that included two lion cubs and a rare eagle near the border with Syria.

Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said on Saturday that Lebanon will adhere to international agreements to prevent smuggling of wildlife, and convicted smugglers will be punished. 

Lebanese troops on Friday found two lion cubs, an eastern imperial eagle, 350 goldfinches and more than 1,350 ornamental birds of various types hidden in wooden cages and cardboard boxes on a truck after a routine search at a checkpoint in Batroun on the Tripoli-Beirut highway, 50 km north of Beirut.

The truck driver was arrested, and the smuggled animals were confiscated.

Internal Security Forces are now investigating the shipment, one of the largest in years and believed to have been destined for a well-known Beirut businessman.

Environment Minister Nasser Yassin said the confiscated animals were in “terrible” condition.

“We do not know how many days they had been kept in cages without food or water to be smuggled across the border, or the circumstances surrounding the smuggling operation,” he said.

The two lion cubs were treated and some of the birds released. However, the eagle was in poor condition and might not survive, the minister added.

Yassin said the businessman is likely to face prosecution.

“Out of concern with the issue of wild animals, we will sue everyone behind this operation,” he said.

“We are committed to the global CITES — Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — the agreement that regulates this trade.”

Smuggling is a growing problem on the Lebanese-Syrian border amid widespread chaos in the region.

Most operations involve human trafficking, mainly Syrians who want to work in Lebanon or travel through the country illegally en route to Europe.

Smugglers also move medicine, fuel and illegal drugs. However, seizures of wildlife are rarely reported.

Hajj Hassan, the agriculture minister, also said: “It is not the first time that animals have been smuggled and it will not be the last. However, this is the largest shipment that has been confiscated.”

Animal rights activist Ghina Nahfawi told Arab News that the animals were destined for a businessman “known for this type of trade.”

The merchant sells animals in the Al-Awza’i neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Nahfawi.

Rare and exotic creatures are sold to wealthy people, who boast about having them in their gardens, she said.

The confiscated animals were inspected by the Department of Livestock in North Lebanon and either released or given further treatment.

The eastern imperial eagle is being cared for by the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds, while the two lion cubs were deposited with the welfare group Animals Lebanon.


Houthis told to release citizens detained for celebrating revolution

Houthis told to release citizens detained for celebrating revolution
Updated 30 September 2023
Follow

Houthis told to release citizens detained for celebrating revolution

Houthis told to release citizens detained for celebrating revolution
  • Yemenis marched through the streets of Sanaa with flags and chanted slogans in praise of the republic
  • The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties condemned Houthi attacks on peaceful gatherings in the cities it controls

AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni officials and international human rights organizations have demanded the Iran-backed Houthis release hundreds of detained citizens who took to the streets of Sanaa and other Yemeni cities last week to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Sept. 26 revolution.
Yemenis marched through the streets of Sanaa with flags and chanted slogans in praise of the republic.
Social media videos show armed Houthi militia in military uniform and civilian clothing violently suppressing gatherings in the capital and the city of Ibb, dragging dozens of people from the streets and forcing them into military vehicles.
The Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties condemned Houthi attacks on peaceful gatherings in the cities it controls. The body demanded that the militia cease harassing those who lawfully express their opinions.
The organization said: “We call on the Houthi group to halt its brutal attacks, release all detainees, and instruct its members to respect the rights of individuals to express their opinions, and peaceful assembly.
“In addition, the Houthi group is required to prosecute all individuals involved in the attacks and arrests for their grave violations.”
Sanaa residents said the Houthis had deployed security forces throughout the capital, primarily around Al-Sabeen Square, in response to calls for demonstrations against the mass arrests following Friday prayer.
Amnesty International has demanded that the Houthis “immediately and unconditionally” release the detained individuals, adding that the Yemenis were arrested and assaulted for commemorating a national day.
It said: “In a draconian show of force, Houthi de facto authorities have carried out a wave of sweeping arrests, demonstrating their flagrant disregard for the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
Grazia Careccia, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement: “The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release anyone detained solely for exercising their rights.”
The Houthis have not officially commented on the arrests, but activists in Sanaa, including legal activist Abdul Wahab Qatran — who has contacted Houthi security agencies — say those seized are being questioned about “possible affiliations” with external groups.
Analysts say the gatherings in Sanaa have been occurring at a time when public pressure has been mounting on the Houthis to compensate thousands of state employees who have not been paid for years.
They add that the Houthis do not acknowledge the 1962 uprising against the imams.
Faisal Al-Shabibi, a Yemeni journalist, told Arab News: “They (the Houthis) view the events of Sept. 26 as a rebellion, not a revolution as the Yemenis do. They intend to transform the republic into a monarchy gradually.”
The Houthis, who took military control of Yemen in late 2014, have detained thousands of Yemeni politicians, activists, journalists, and members of the general public, as well as forcing tens of thousands to abandon their homes.