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| Arabia |
| Another Yemen Plague - Corruption and Militias of "the Al-Sadiq Brigades" - |
| 2013-05-15 |
| [Yemen Post] While the only working democratic republican system in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has often been labeled as politically unstable, its political integrity and authority plagued by tribal militias and factions. As 2011 Revolution unfolded, bringing down former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... 's three decades rule many groups saw in disorder an importunity to make money or expand their zone of influence. With Yemenis more determined than ever to break away from a past plagued by corruption, residents have started to systematically denounced and challenged criminals, calling on the government to crackdown on the rend as to eradicate it. In the provinces of Dale and Ibb (south of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a) residents revealed a gang of criminal, called "The Brigades of al-Sadiq" had been terrorizing civilians, misappropriating lands and brutalizing whoever dared oppose their will. The gang seized Chihar district, a strategic area between Ibb and Thale provinces, where it started its tyrannic rule over the area, often using sophisticated weaponry, the kind which only government officials or the military could acquire. According to witnesses, the men are responsible for several deaths, namely that of Ahmed Humaid, a 22-year old young man who was bumped off for trying to prevent the gang from seizing his family's lands. Local residents filed several official complaints to the government, accusing the gang of a disturbingly list of crimes, among which: arson, physical assaults of unarmed civilians, looting, misappropriation of properties, thievery, thuggery, and the corruption of officials. Things degenerated to such an extent that schools and hospitals had to shut down and residents remained barricaded in their homes, fearing what the gang members would do to them should they found them outside. Having lived in fear for the past 18 months residents are now directly calling on President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to put an end to such an intolerable situation by enforcing the authority of the state and restoring the rule of law. Wronged residents are also asking for justice to be served and the price of blood to be paid where it is due, in accordance with the law of the land. |
| Posted by:Fred |