Yemen Feature: Who's Who in the Battle for Power (Al Jazeera English and Johnsen)
Monday, June 6, 2011 at 8:22
Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar & His 10 SonsTwo useful guides to the figures vying for power in Yemen. First, from Al Jazeera English:
Saleh's family
Government sources in Yemen said on Sunday that Saleh's sons and nephews have not left the country. That gives Saleh a strong power base inside Yemen; the president has spent years consolidating power within his family.
The elite Republican Guard is headed by Saleh's son, Ahmed, long viewed as a potential heir to the presidency. His nephew Yahya leads the riot police; another nephew, Tariq, is the head of Saleh's personal bodyguards.
Several other brothers and nephews hold key positions in the military and intelligence services as well. Collectively, Saleh's family commands tens of thousands of troops, many of them the best-trained and best-equipped in Yemen.
Saleh's relatives have kept a low profile since his departure; none of them have issued public statements.
The Ahmar family
The sons of Abdullah al-Ahmar, the former leader of the Hashid tribal confederation, constitute one of the strongest political forces in the country.
Hamid al-Ahmar has long been considered a potential successor to Saleh. He is one of the most powerful businessmen in the country, with a controlling stake in the Sabafone mobile phone network and a number of other companies. One of his brothers, Himyar, is the deputy speaker of parliament; another, Hussein, is a leader of the Hashid.
Fighting between Saleh's forces and tribesmen loyal to the Ahmars has paralysed the Yemeni capital for weeks. Saleh's men shelled the Ahmar compound in Sanaa last month; al-Ahmar's men have been blamed for the rocket attack against the presidential palace this week, though the government has not proved that allegation.
From Yemen analyst Gregory Johnsen on his blog Waq el-Waq: "The al-Ahmar Family"
The family is the head of the Hashid tribal confederation, the most powerful of Yemen's two tribal confederations. The other is Bakil. It is important to remember that even though we in the west tend to talk about these as coherent groups, they are not monolithic blocs. There are numerous divisions - in fact both the al-Ahmar family and President Salih are part of the Hashid confederation.
Shaykh Abdullah al-Ahmar: The patriarch of the clan led Hashid from 1960 - when Imam Ahmad executed his father and older brother - until his death from cancer in late 2007. While never a great friend of President Salih, the two men worked together throughout much of Salih's rule, with al-Ahmar supporting Salih in every presidential election.
The president in turn supported the shaykh as speaker of parliament, a post he held from 1993 (unified Yemen's first election) until his death in 2007. Shaykh Abdullah also founded Yemen's largest opposition party, Islah. (There is much more to say about Shaykh Abdullah, but other more skilled than me have already done that, and Shaykh Abullah published his memoirs shortly before he died.)
This delicate division of resources and power has not passed to the next generation. The descendants of al-Ahmar and Salih increasingly view each other as competitors for the same shrinking pie of political power. The contest for control of the state is now said to be, in a bit of an Arabic pun, one between the two Bayt al-Ahmars, House of al-Ahmar. The reference is to Shaykh Abdullah’s surname and the president’s home village, Bayt al-Ahmar.
THE TEN SONS
Sadiq: Is the eldest son (born in 1956) and was named by his father as his replacement in his final will, a decision that was confirmed by the elders within the Hashid tribe. For a brief bio of Sadiq in Arabic, you can visit the al-Ahmar family website here.
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