New York time
Perhaps more troubling, Ansar al-Sharia is functioning as a de facto
government in small cities and towns in Abyan and Shabwa Provinces, and it is winning the loyalty of at least some of the population, according to residents
The militants are working from an established playbook, offering the services that the government has failed to provide. They are giving food rations to civilians and providing
some sense of security with their own police force and court system based on strict interpretations of Islamic law.
some sense of security with their own police force and court system based on strict interpretations of Islamic law.
“When someone takes over and says I want to rule by the Shariah, no one can stand against them,” said Ahmed al-Fadhli, who comes from a powerful family in the area of Abyan Province controlled by the militants. “That’s real justice.”
It is a shift in targets for the terrorist group, which has thus far set its sights on Yemeni military units, rather than staging attacks that hurt the local population, like the marketplace bombings conducted in other Arab countries.
“We want security, whether it is from Al Qaeda or the government,” said Ahmed Saeed, a father of eight who recently came to Aden with his family after the militants told them there might be an attack soon on Jaar, in Abyan Province. Like thousands of others displaced by fighting in the province, Mr. Saeed and his family set up residence in decrepit public school buildings.
While Yemenis in the north are hopeful that Mr. Saleh’s recent resignation offers a fresh start for their struggling nation, most southerners say they do not want anything to do with the new political agenda.
And though there are many posters of Mr. Hadi hung on walls across Sana, the nation’s capital, in Aden there are flags of the former South Yemen painted on buildings, pasted on telephone polls and strung over streets.
“The problem is that when the young guys, when they were growing up, they were told how their family were getting jobs. Now they see how their parents have been humiliated,” said Yahya al-Jifri, a leader in an opposition political party in Aden. “They find out they cannot go to university because there are no scholarships for southerners. Then their fathers lost their jobs in military and civil service.”
Back in his law office in central Aden, Mr. Abdullah gave a pessimistic assessment of where he sees all this leading. “There is no central leadership,” he said. “We have no economy. There is no foundation anymore for an independent country. We will just end up fighting among ourselves.”
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