Why people in Ibb province carry out protest over African shelter
English - Wednesday 17 July 2019 الساعة 07:19 pm
Mocha – NewsYemen.net
When the battles raged gates of al-Hodeida more than a year ago, the militias took refuge in civilian installations and residential neighborhoods, forcing thousands people to flee to other provinces, most notably Ibb province.
At the time, activists suggested to the province leadership to allocate shelters in Ibb city in preparation for reeving al-Hodeida displaced people, but the authorities rejected proposals justifying that Ibb was crowded as Taiz displaced people arrived earlier due to military confrontations, which also led pressures on basic services.
The pretexts of overcrowding and service burdens have faded with the leadership of the local authority in Ibb province for days; that time to receive illegal immigrants from African countries and agreed to set up a shelter for them in Ibb city , which received widespread popular opposition from the people of the province
An ominous meeting
The story began in popular and media course in a meeting missed by Ibb governor Abdulwahid Salah and the head of the Secretary General of the Local Council Amin al-Wurafi in the presence of Houthi militias' officials in Sana'a and Ibb provinces.
The meeting discussed facilities for setting up a shelter for illegal immigrants, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, followed by the meeting with the head of the International Migration Mission David Dirtak who put the cornerstone of the project at an estimated initial cost of $ 14 million.
The result of the meeting talked about that 120 African migrants, males and females, that contradicted the leaking of local authorities as there were only female migrants while others placed thousand numbers in low estimates, stressing that the official figure is for migrants detained in the central prison in the province.
They said that the initial cost of the project, if it was divided into 120 immigrants, would exceed one hundred thousand dollars, a very large sum for the standard of living of Yemenis, not to mention stranded refugees.
Mobilization Center
A police officer fears that resettlement of refugees whose habits differ from Yemeni community traditions will exacerbate security problems, including high crime rates, according to official security records.
A human rights worker K.H noted that the local authority in the province was unable to provide basic services to the population "and it has not been able to deal with the population boom resulting from the internal displacement, unless its repercussions have been mitigated by community-based initiatives, adding new pressure on already scarce services? "
"The Houthi authorities often obstruct the relief work of international humanitarian organizations such as the World Food Program, and as far as the closure of some offices such as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)," wondering what she described as humanitarianism about the International Migration Mission.
A.M an activist in the humanitarian field said that the size of the rejection of the people is not an objection to the assistance of the African brothers "Yemen, officially and populally, in Ibb and elsewhere hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom were involved in the Yemeni labor markets, and therefore the problem has nothing to do with the humanitarian aspect, whether local authorities, or popular rejection."
"The opposition carried out by the people in the province expressed the real rejection of Houthi policies and the smells of corruption in the deal with international brokers." A.M said.
A political activist H.H agrees said the reasons for rejection are attributed to fears that the Houthis will turn the province of Ibb into a recruiting center for Africans in their war.
"Houthi militias have been active in recent months in trying to transform the densely populated province into a hotbed of fighters preparing for what they expect from a battle on the West Coast, as well as the escalation of military operations in al-Dhale' fronts close to Ibb province," he said.
He points to the failure of the militias to recruit large numbers of young people in Ibb province. "As in several provinces, they resorted to attracting fighters among African refugees in exchange for sums ranging between $ 80- $ 100 per a person."
"The mobilization of African fighters under a humanitarian umbrella provides the Houthis financial costs guaranteed by the International Migration Mission", he continued.
On the ground, protest activities were held against the cornerstone of the project, while Angry crowds have razed the foundation stone of it.
Observers of Ibb scene noted that the people in the province took any opportunity to express their protest against the Houthi militias without direct collision this period with their militias. The issue of sheltering African refugees is only one of the addresses of the population's rejection of the presence of the Houthi militias in their province.
