YEMEN'S SALAFIS COME OUT OF THE POLITICAL CLOSET

S E C R E T SANAA 001087

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AND INR SMOFFATT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2019
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL SCUL YM
SUBJECT: YEMEN'S SALAFIS COME OUT OF THE POLITICAL CLOSET

REF: A. SANAA 708

B. SANAA 1016

Classified By: Ambassador Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (S) SUMMARY. Yemen's leading Salafis took a bold step
into the political arena last month with a highly publicized
conference in support of national unity, hosted by the
country's largest Salafist charitable organization. Civil
society reacted warily to the conservative religious
movement's sudden public role, which many claim enjoys
President Saleh's personal support. Such a partisan display
by the Salafis may represent the beginning of a new era in
Yemeni politics. END SUMMARY.


2. (S) Over the last two decades, Yemen's Salafis have
carved out an important niche for themselves in Yemeni
society (Ref A). (Note: Salafis espouse a fundamentalist
interpretation of Sunni Islam closely connected with
Wahhabism. End Note.) To date, they have maintained a focus
on local, low-profile religious and charitable works. As
recently as mid-April, Hikma Organization (a Salafi charity)
Sana'a branch president Mohammed Saleh Aqlan told PolOff that
the group had "no political interests or aspirations." Just
over one month later, however, on May 27 and 28, Hikma's
national President Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Dubai'i hosted a
highly publicized Salafi conference promoting national unity,
attended by over 800 representatives of 35 Salafist
organizations from across the country. Dubai'i himself said
that the conference marked a turning point for Yemen's
Salafis, according to press reports of the event. At a June
8 conference on religious trends in Yemen, Abdulwahab
al-Hamiqani, an official from the Salafist al-Rushd
Organization, said, "There is no democracy that is perfect
anywhere in the world. It's better to be restricted by
religion than by culture." At the same conference, Hikma
Organization representative Murad al-Qadasi said, "The
security of Yemen is in our hearts. We desire stability, and
don't want Yemen to become another Somalia."


3. (S) The attendance of and keynote speech by ROYG Minister
of Endowments Hamoud al-Hitar confirmed the government's
explicit support for the Salafi gathering. According to
press reports, Hitar told the audience on May 27 that the
Salafi pro-unity position was "a relief to us all."
Journalist Mohammed al-Qadhi, who attended the conference,
told PolOff on June 7 that Hitar said the government needed
more support from imams, and urged them to use their sermons
to encourage unity and stability. According to Qadhi,
President Saleh donated several million riyals to the
conference, although he did not personally attend. (Comment:
The Salafis appear to be the latest in a series of religious
groups used by Saleh against his opponents. It is believed
that the President fostered the creation of the Islah party
in the 1990s to act as a counter to the southern-based Yemeni
Socialist Party, and deployed Islamic extremists against his
southern enemies during the 1994 civil war. These actions,
however, were kept relatively quiet, and are still denied by
some Yemenis today. Last month's conference was the most
public evidence to date of the ROYG's close collaboration
with the country's conservative Salafis against current
elements of domestic instability. End Comment.)


4. (S) Members of civil society view the Salafis' growing
political power as a troublesome trend. They worry that
President Saleh has abandoned any pretense of dialogue with
the opposition parties (Ref B),and is instead resorting to
the tribes and the religious extremists to maintain control
over the country. Dr. Faris al-Saqqaf, Director of the
Center for Future Studies and an advisor to presidential son
Ahmed Ali Saleh, confirmed to PolOff on June 7 that there was
no dialogue at all between the political parties. According
to Qadhi, Saleh has increased his public support for the
Salafis to weaken Islah, a moderate Islamic opposition party,
and the al-Ahmar clan, which has not held back its vocal
criticism of the ROYG in recent weeks. (Note: The late
Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, a powerful deal-broker, headed the
Islah party until his death in 2007. The al-Ahmar family are
Zaydi Shia and therefore natural opponents to the Sunni
Salafis. End Note.) At the June 8 religious trends
conference, journalist and Salafi expert Abdullah Haydar
Shai'aa said, "What the Salafis say - that anyone who
supports democracy is a non-believer - is dangerous.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda is spreading, but is it the democrats who
are the non-believers?" Sheikh Yahya al-Najjar, a religious
scholar and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, said
during the same conference, "It is unequivocally wrong for
the Salafis to style themselves as the only true Muslims. It
is wrong and it is dangerous."

COMMENT
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5. (C) In many ways, the Salafis' recent unity conference
represented a political coming-out party for the conservative
movement and an unspoken acknowledgement of its strength.
For the first time, Salafism in Yemen has a public face, and
it is clear that the Salafis are willing to work with
President Saleh when he extends his hand. While the
movement's full political agenda remains unknown, it's not
likely to go back into the closet any time soon. END COMMENT.
SECHE