YEMENI GUN BAN HOLDS BUT ATTITUDES REMAIN UNCHANGED

S E C R E T SANAA 000122

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2018
TAGS: PGOV YM
SUBJECT: YEMENI GUN BAN HOLDS BUT ATTITUDES REMAIN UNCHANGED

REF: A. SANNA 1633

B. SANAA 2324

C. SANAA 91

Classified By: A/DCM Mike Sarhan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
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1. (U) Yemen's historic gun ban is holding five months after
it was announced. Though violence continues in Yemen reports
suggest there has been some reduction in gun related crimes.
Lasting change will only be successful if attitudes about
weapons change and people become aware of its dangers. END
SUMMARY.

THE BAN PERSISTS
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2. (U) Five months ago on August 23, 2007, the Yemeni
Ministry of Interior instituted a gun ban in major cities
throughout Yemen based on a 1992 gun control law as reported
in ref A. Security forces continue to report increasing
numbers of weapons seized. On September 25, The Yemen Times
reported that 16,000 weapons had been confiscated since the
ban was announced on August 23. More recently the English
language newspaper the Yemen Observer reported on January 5
that security forces enforcing the gun ban had seized 62,088
weapons. (Note: Reports did not detail types or condition of
weapons confiscated. End Note.) The ROYG has shown
considerable dedication to the gun ban imposing it even on
influential Yemeni. On September 29, Almotamar.net reported
security forces took ten weapons from Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar.
(Note. Sadeq was not yet the paramount sheikh of the Hashid
confederation, Yemen's most powerful tribal group. End
Note.) Sadeq's late father, Sheikh Abdullah, was in staunch
opposition to increased gun laws.


3. (C) The gun ban continues to hold throughout Yemen.
National Democratic Institute Resident Coordinator Peter
Dimitroff attended a conference in Marib city on November 7,
which is a notoriously tribal and armed region of Yemen.
Dimitroff told PolOff, that while weapons were still widely
visible outside the city, they were not seen in the city.
EmbOffs reported in November following trips to Hodeidah,
Mokha, Taiz and Amran, compliance with the gun ban inside the
cities and an absence of weapons on the streets. (Note:
Amran is a northern tribal area well known for the martial
attitudes and previously would have been bristling with arms.
Hodeidah and Mokha are on the western coast. Taiz is in
southwest Yemen. With the exception of Amran these cities
were relatively weapon free before the ban. End Note.)
PolOff on December 13, noted in ref B that people were not
armed in Amran during a visit to investigate an alleged
kidnapping which had resulted in threats and high tension in
the community. An Embassy employee who returned to his home
in Taiz in December, reported that though weapons were
everywhere in his home village less than an hour from Taiz
city, guns were not evident in the city. PolOff visited
Mukulla in eastern Yemen on January 16, and saw no civilians
carrying weapons in the city. Additionally, only one in five
police were seen to be visibly armed.


4. (U) The Yemen Observer on January 5, also reported that
Ministry of Interior Colonel Mohammad al-Ghadra said that the
gun ban is responsible for a decrease in reported crimes from
183 in the four months prior to the gun ban to 160 in the
four months following. Revenge killings, of which only 122
were reported in the same period, also dropped. In a Yemen
Times interview reported on November 20 Deputy Interior
Minister Mohammed al-Qawsi said violent crimes had dropped 43
percent. (Note: As many crimes go unreported in Yemen, crime
statistics are skewed to the more violent ones. End Note.)

VIOLENCE PERSISTS
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5. (U) Not all the news, however, is good. Initially there
was opposition to the gun ban. Alsahwa)Yemen.net, the
mouthpiece of the Islah Opposition Party, reported security
forces detained member of Parliament Abdullah al-Haj for
three hours outside Sana'a on August 26, for refusing to give
up his weapons. Almotamar.net reported on September 16, that
security forces had a shoot out with bodyguards of Sheikh
Dirham Yahya, head of the al-Qahira district over his
non-compliance. Later Alsahwa-Yemen.net on September 18,
reported that despite the gun ban, gunmen massed in Taiz's
city center to protest of the killing of a sheikh (Abdul
Salam al-Qaisi).


6. (U) Weapon markets continue to exist despite the gun ban.
Deutsche Presse Agentur reported on December 27, that an
explosion in Saada city's infamous al-Talh weapon market
killed four people and injured 16. Guns continued to be
present in Sana'a as evidenced by the November 13, Almotammar
report that Brigadier General Jamal al-Kumeinm was shot dead
and four others were wounded by an armed gang of car-thieves
in Sana'a The Yemen Times on November 18, reported that
Hussein al-Ahmar held a rally in Khamir in Amran governorate
of more than 10,000 armed tribesmen.


7. (C) Sana'a University Professor Abdullah al-Faqih noted to
PolOff that the rally was a show of force and independence of
the Hashid tribe in the face of the gun ban. EmbOffs
reported regularly hearing Kalishnakovs being fired in Sana'a
as of January. PolOff witnessed a man carrying a Kalishnakov
in the Haddah neighborhood on Friday January 11. (Note:
Haddah is a neighborhood in Sana'a where many from the
diplomatic community reside. End Note.) PolOff also
witnessed a man stepping into a store front in the old city
of Bab-al-Yaman on January 19, armed with a pistol. (COMMENT:
In both cases witnessed by PolOff, these individuals may have
been authorized to carry weapons as a bodyguard to an MP or
Sheikh or as a security official. The apparent nonchalant
manner of carring their weapons and absence of reaction from
other passers by implies an acceptance of weapons that will
take much longer to confront. END COMMENT.)

ROYG REASONS & PLANS
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8. (C) Ministry of Interior (MOI) Chief of Staff Brigadier
General Ahmed al-Sunaidar told PolOff on January 22, that the
gun ban was something any government would want to have. He
pointed out that the gun ban helped limit the availability of
weapons to terrorists. He added that people might require
arms in the countryside but not in the cities. (Note:
al-Sunaidar said the gun ban plan at present includes the
capital, major cities in Yemen and will eventually extend to
the countryside. End Note.) Additionally, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Head of the Gulf and Arab Countries Bureau
Ambassador Abdulkader Hadi told PolOff on January 20 that
reduction of arms in society was one stipulation for Yemeni
accession to the GCC.


9. (C) Abdul-Rahman al-Marwani, the founder and chairman of
Dar al-Salaam, Yemen's only NGO dedicated to raising
awareness of the dangers of guns and developing conflict
management relating to revenge killings, told PolOff that the
gun ban was bringing success in reducing arms, but that his
goals were to raise awareness and reduce gun violence and
suggested the government sought only to impose control of
non-government arms.

COMMENT:
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10. (S) Yemen has much to benefit from if they can continue
to uphold the ban. Accession to the GCC, reduced crime, and
increased central government control will all be in the
regime's favor. Incidents like the January 19 shooting in
Hadramout (ref C),however, show the government still has a
long way to go. The gun ban is a superficial measure baning
only the open display of weapons in cities, but not outlawing
their ownership. Attitudes about weapons remain unchanged.
Yemenis are all to ready to resort to guns when strife
occurs. Programs on gun awareness, such as those funded by
the Political Military Office through UNICEF and UNDP, and
rule of law and responsible government in Yemen will need to
be strengthened to bring about a fundamental and lasting
change in Yemeni society in relation to guns.
SECHE