SHIFTING LOYALTIES

Shifting Loyalties: The Tribes of Khawlan b. Amir in the Huthi Conflict in North-West Yemen

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The tribal confederation of Khawlan b. Amir (or Khawlan b. Quda'a) in southwestern Arabia consists of eight sub-tribes. The main settlement areas of five sub-tribes are located on Yemeni and three on Saudi Arabian territory. In past centuries the tribes of Khawlan were involved to different degrees in southwestern Arabia’s political power structures, which were substantially affected by the Zaydi-Shiite Imamate and since 1962, by the establishment of the Sunni-dominated Republic of Yemen.

Since 2004, the Yemeni Khawlan b. Amir tribes were gradually drawn into the so-called Huthi conflict between revanchist Zaydi rebels and the Sunni-dominated central government of Yemen. The Huthi conflict can be seen as the newly contextualized continuation of a political process which began in the 9th Century with the establishment of the Zaydi imamate in northern Yemen and led with the revolution in 1962 and the ensuing civil war to the founding of the Republic of Yemen.

The aim of this work is to explore the emergence of new tribal loyalties and alliances within the Khawlan tribes that arose from their involvement in the Huthi conflict. Most Khawlan tribes had strongly supported royalist forces in the revolution of 1962 and the ensuing civil war due to historically evolved loyalties. By contrast, the Houthi conflict made obvious that the state policy of co-optation in the past few decades already led to a solid integration of those tribal leaders into the political system of the Republic. In the Huthi conflict the majority of the Khawlan leaders positioned themselves on the side of the Republic. Since many ‘simple’ Khawlan-tribal people still fought on the side of the rebels, new alliances and divisions within the tribal society of the Khawlan b. Amir emerged.

The source material for this investigation is based on the author’s experience inside the Yemen, as well as on thoroughly scrutinizing original Arabic and some Western written sources.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Eight sub-tribes make up the Khawlan b. Amir tribal confederation, a society divided by political power struggles in south-western Arabia. An EU-funded research initiative explored new tribal loyalties and alliances arising within Khawlan tribes following the Huthi conflict.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Between 2004 and 2010 six so-called wars took place in Yemen. Termed the Huthi conflict, the clash between the government, political and sectarian contenders escalated to a large-scale insurrection due to tribal involvement.

The project 'Shifting loyalties: The tribes of Khawlan b. Amir in the Huthi conflict in north-west Yemen' (SHIFTING LOYALTIES) retraced the development of tribal loyalties and allegiances during the conflict. It brought to light the factors affecting tribal involvement and loyalties as well as impact on the course and outcome of the conflict.

A combined methodological approach allowed SHIFTING LOYALTIES to gather unique empirical knowledge regarding the particular intricacies of the Huthi conflict. The study involved ethnographic fieldwork, which was supplemented with ongoing online exchanges with human sources and informants due to Yemen's unstable security situation. Qualitative content analysis, on the other hand, allowed the examination of written source materials. These included western and especially Arabic scientific literature as well as Yemeni and Saudi online journals and newspapers.

Findings show that in the governorate of Sa'dah, local society is still dominated by tribal customs and traditions. Selective favouritism towards certain tribal leaders and the segregation of others led to rivalries and conflicts among local tribal elites. This resulted in social discontent and unrest as inequalities in influence, wealth and income became more pronounced. Research also found that in many cases the Huthi conflict was used to pursue pre-existing rivalries and feuds rather than defend religious or ideological objectives.

Beyond contributing new knowledge to a region of increasing international importance, project findings also enriched the field of social anthropology. The developed scientific framework enables the use of various approaches for researching the role of locals in implementation of policies, ideologies and religious interpretations.

SHIFTING LOYALTIES also advanced recommendations for organisations with a special interest in better understanding Yemeni conflicts and social disparities. These include (foreign) policy, security and international organisations dedicated to, for example, human aid and international development.