al-Qa'alah and al-Aghbarah Reconciliation Agreement

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Country/entity: Yemen
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: al-Qa'alah and al-Aghbarah Reconciliation Agreement
Date: 4 Aug 2014
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Yemeni Civil Wars (1994) (2011 - )
The Republic of Yemen was formed in May 1990 after the merger between the Yemeni Arab Republic (YAR) in the north and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) in the south. The unification process was rushed and the final agreement between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and President Ali Salem al-Beidh was based on the imperfect promise of equality. Following the merger, integration of the militaries and civil services was at best incomplete or at times entirely non-existent. When Saleh’s General Congress Party (GPC) allied itself with the newly created Islamist Islah (‘reform’) party in 1993, the former ruling party of South Yemen – the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) – was effectively side-lined in the 1993 General Elections. Violence involving the use of heavy weaponry and aerial bombardment erupted in April 1994 and on the 21 May 1994 Vice President al-Beidh declared the secession of the south, citing political centralization with the northern highland tribes, violence against the YSP and economic discrimination. In the midst of fighting, negotiations in Cairo, Egypt, collapsed. The war ended with the military victory of the north, and on the 1 October 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected President.

Despite the unification of Yemen in 1990, political power during the 1990s and 2000s remained centralized with the northern highland tribes, particularly the villages from which President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his confidants stemmed. The system of clientelism established through the ruling General People’s Congress party maintained relative loyalty among the fractured political allegiances of Yemen’s traditional tribal leadership. However, diminishing oil reserves and the shrinking opportunities for access to rent increased economic and political marginalization in Yemen’s peripheral communities. The degree of regionalism of conflicts is further defined by other local grievances. In the northern governorate of Sa’dah, a backlash was provoked among the local Zaydi Shi’a against Sunni Salafist cultural incursions resulting in six wars between 2004 and 2010. In the southern governorates of Hadramawt, Shabwa, al-Dhali and Abyan, civil and military personnel forcibly retired after the 1994 Civil War began protesting and eventually formed the secessionist Southern ‘al-Hiraak’ movement in 2007. Furthermore, tribal grievances have spurred attacks on oil companies and government installations to extract rents. Various takfiri groups including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have also increased their presence since 1995.

The Yemen Spring in early 2011 allowed all these movements to express their joint displeasure. Moreover, factionalism in the regime split the already weak military and thus allowed the Houthis, the takfiris and tribal-based militia known as popular committees, to assert themselves militarily. Mandated by the UN-sponsored Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative, the National Dialogue held from March 2013 to January 2014 aimed at guaranteeing power-sharing among the different parties. However, the GCC Initiative only included formal political parties that did not accurately reflect political realities. Furthermore, provisions lacked adequate transitional justice and provided former-President Saleh, as well as others, full amnesty. As a result, little faith was placed in the process by formerly marginalized groups such as the Zaydi Shia Houthi rebels (Ansar Allah) and al-Hiraak who opted to increase their bargaining power vis-à-vis the state by strengthening their own territorial enclaves. In September 2014 the Houthis succeeded in capturing the capital Sana’a and gradually expanded their control southward. The subsequent UN-mediated Peace and National Partnership Agreement between transitional president Hadi and the Houthis on a federal, democratic Yemeni state, failed to be implemented as the Houthis successfully dissolved the parliament and deposed Hadi in January 2015. Following the Saudi military intervention to restore the Hadi government in March 2015, ceasefire attempts continuously failed. A two-year deadlock ensued until negotiations between the Houthis and the government of Yemen finally culminated in the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018. However, throughout 2019 the Saudi-led coalition continues to launch airstrikes. Furthermore, in May 2017 the Southern al-Hiraak movement had declared the secessionist formation of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), seizing the interim-capital Aden by January 2018. Territorial divisions between the Yemeni government, the Houthis, forces affiliated with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, local militias and tribes have continued to fracture the country.
Stage: Ceasefire/related
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Yemen Inter-group Agreements
Parties: two tribes of al-Qa’alah and al-Aghbarah
[9 signatories]
Third parties: good endeavour blessed by Al-Sayyid Ahmed Bihay al-Din Salih al-Sarwari
Description: A truce lasting three years between the al-Qa’alah and al-Aghbarah. Sit downs between elders are continuing to resolve remaining disputes within this time frame. Agreement translation is missing details due to illegible handwriting.

Agreement document: YE_140802_Al-Qa'alah and Al-Aghbarah Reconciliation Agreement_EN.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): YE_140802_Al-Qa'alah and Al-Aghbarah Reconciliation Agreement_AR.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Formal structured process
Rationale: There appears to be a form of dedicated supporting body comprised of prominent social figures from the area, elders and politicians as described in the text. There is clear formally established process present, with the elder representatives of the two tribes leading talks and ensuring agreement - this is a typical local practice where signing parties themselves lead and shape agreements, based on a tradition of self governance and mutual understandings of confidence building measures. This agreement also reflects a locally accepted signing practice in the sense that it is part of a long term agreement set out between the two tribes, and in this sense is part of an ongoing process which may involve later revisions or other truces/agreements. This agreement is to last three years.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: T
Link to national process: articulated rationale: It cannot be assumed that the supporting efforts of the politicians described in the text can necessarily be viewed as a national support structure or input. The wider peace process is not specifically mentioned in the text. There is also no further research which indicates a clear structural link to the national peace process.
Name of Locale: Sabiha (al-Subaiha/Shuaibi), area within the governorate of Lahij
Nature of Locale: Region
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 13.057711, 44.882743
Participant type: Local armed group
Mediator, facilitator or similar: Mediator or similar referred to
Mediator (references): Al-Sayyid Ahmed Bihay al-Din Salih al-Sarwari (Sorouri) is described in the document text and the source attached to it as leading the agreement talks and continuing to endeavor to ensure peace between the two tribes. His name is listed in the agreement text in the context of blessing the agreement. It seems implicit by the source that his endeavors go beyond this and involve longer term conciliatory efforts. The fact he blessed this agreement likely implies he is the Sayyid (an Arabic title of honour/respect given to people who are culturally accepted as descendants of the prophet Muhammad) who is more implicitly referenced as a mediator in the document text for the other agreement in this process.
Type of mediator/facilitator/similar

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): Page 1, In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate

Page 1, Praise be to God, and May His Peace and Blessings be upon the Messenger Mohammed bin Abdullah and upon his family and companions.

Page 1, Allah says: “And say, ‘Do [as you will], for Allah will see your deeds, and [so, will] His Messenger and the believers. And you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do’” [9:105].
Grievance List: Page 1, Paragraph 3: Following the good endeavour blessed by... (c) [reparation, a cease fire and security. Sit down with wise men and elders of the al-Qa’alah tribe continuing]
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate

al-Qa’alah and al-Aghbarah Reconciliation Agreement

Praise be to God, and May His Peace and Blessings be upon the Messenger Mohammed bin Abdullah and upon his family and companions.

Allah says:

“And say, ‘Do [as you will], for Allah will see your deeds, and [so, will] His Messenger and the believers.

And you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do’” [9:105].

Following the good endeavour blessed by Al-Sayyid Ahmed Bihay al-Din Salih al-Sarwari between two tribes of al-Qa’alah and al-Aghbarah led to reparation, a cease fire and security.

Sit down with wise men and elders of the al-Qa’alah tribe continuing.

The truce between the two tribes is established for three years.

During these three years, the efforts of active politicians to resolve the disputes between two tribes continues. […]

1 the truce from 7/9/2014.

In this period […]2 the truce.

This is agreed and signed by the elders of the Al-Qa’alah and al-Aghbarah tribes.

The elders should meet […]3 for this truce at the right time.

[9 signatories]