Marib, like a beacon in the night

Marib is now only connected to one road. It comes from the East, meandering between the canyons of Hadramout, then crossing uninhabited deserts. Government-manned checkpoints lengthen a journey of several hours under escort. You have to cross around forty to reach Marib, the last government stronghold held in the north of the country. “It depends on the front lines, but the Houthis are closest to 20 km from the city”, details a senior officer of the national army. At the entrance to the city, plantations spring from the soil made fertile by irrigation from the pre-Islamic dam of Marib.

“Marib will become the capital of free Yemen”

This is exactly where the kingdom of Sheba had made its nest, as early as the 8th century BC, not without difficulty, the tribes refusing to submit completely. Millennia later, some have retained their rebellious spirit. Until 2015, Marib was just a sparsely populated street, where crime, kidnappings and terrorism abounded in protest against a corrupt state. Violent Houthi invasion attempts, however, have closed ranks. Today, the government, the tribes and the millions of displaced people from all over the country have made Marib a great megalopolis of convenience. “Once the war is over, Marib will become the capital of free Yemen,” the soldier wants to believe.

The architecture is not as rich as in Sanaa or Shibam. The urgency of housing a population multiplied by eight in a few years has drawn a wild urbanism. It was in one of these alleys, at nightfall, that Sadiq Al Jedei, a defector from Sanaa, the capital occupied by the rebels, decided to celebrate his wedding. Young men, jambiya (traditional dagger) in hand, dance in a circle, repeating very old choreographies.

The music is spit out by loud-sounding loudspeakers. Smiles are on everyone’s lips, yet everyone refrains from firing shots, to celebrate the event, as is the tradition now prohibited. A ban that reminds us that the war is very close and that each shot could mean a rebel offensive. “I left my home in 2015 because of the war. When I got here, there wasn’t much. Marib has evolved so much and the local tribes have welcomed us with kindness,” says the newlywed.

189 IDP camps in the city

The two million displaced people have made Marib one of the most populated cities in Yemen. She has also become one of the most mixed. Saïf Nasser Muthana, in charge of displaced populations, receives guests in his office with imitation leather sofas. This Maribi from the Abidah tribe says he received 12,000 families because of the violent Houthi offensives in 2021. “This brings the number of camps to 189,” he says. We provide the minimum service for these people because more than half of our budget goes to the war effort. Our challenge is to connect the camps to electricity and to build schools so that the children finally have an education. »

Saif also explains that in 2022 international humanitarian aid has decreased by 75%. “Despite all our difficulties, we, the tribes, receive Yemenis from everywhere, without any contempt or racism. These displaced people come with skills and knowledge that have enabled the city to develop. Thanks to them, Marib has become a Yemeni city. »

Freedom of learning and tone

The University of Saba in Marib expanded in an emergency in 2016. From a few hundred, the establishment has grown to 16,000 students. A welcome, course organization and recruitment challenge. “In Sanaa, students are forced to learn things they don’t want to hear about and this has caused thousands to leave. Here, our programs are the same as before (the Houthi coup)”, welcomes the director Mohammed Hamoud Al Qadasi. In the areas occupied by the rebels, Islamic education courses have taken another turn: Abdul-Malik Al Houthi, leader of the Houthis, is venerated there as a demi-god, and other disciplines such as history have undergone ideological readjustments. “At Marib, students are free,” adds the director.

Ali Al Sakani, a well-known journalist from Amran, fled rebel repression before being arrested in the separatist-held south and escaping in extremis. “Here I feel relatively safe. I can criticize and write on all subjects without being worried like everywhere else in Yemen. »

An infrastructure development policy

This freedom of tone, Marib owes it to his governor, who arrived in 2012. The style of Sultan Al Arada, 63, contrasts with that of his predecessors. The charismatic Abidah tribesman renews the city’s largely corrupt security service. “Journalists can criticize me and even make fun of me,” he says in his office. In September 2014, he summoned the local tribes, in perpetual conflict with the state and among themselves, to create a common front against the rebels. If grievances and fights still exist, Marib becomes the only space for cooperation between the national army and tribal forces. In 2015, he re-established justice, which used to be tribal, by recruiting new judges. A police squad is formed. He banned the sale of arms. The crime rate drops by 70%.

In 2015, on the strength of its position as a shield against Houthi invasions, it negotiated 20% of oil and gas revenues with the central government. Revenues which allow a policy of development of infrastructures and public services, including a network of roads, schools, public lighting, a football stadium… The construction of a civil airport is in progress. Civil servants are paid – decently – every month, a rarity since the war. At Marib hospital, an experienced doctor earns €850 a month, compared to €90 for an oncologist in neighboring Hadramout.

Express differences without bloodshed

In the garden of the town hall, the governor, gray blazer on his shoulders and jambiya on his belt, exposes his vision of politics: “People here can express their political differences without causing bloodshed. I don’t want to marginalize or sideline different parties…”

At a time when the north of the country is falling into a violent and obscurantist Zaydi theocracy (branch of Shiism) under the leadership of the Houthis, and while the South is held by the separatists of the CTS (Southern Transitional Council) supported by the Emirates , is proving to be less and less democratic, Marib stands as the model of society the least distant from the demands of the Arab Spring.

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The conflict since 2014

2014. The Houthis take the capital, Sanaa. President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi flees to Aden.

Mars 2015. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia, with the United Arab Emirates, launches an air operation against the rebels, with logistical support from Washington.

2019-2022. Houthi attacks on Saudi and Emirati oil installations.

February 2021. Houthi offensive on Marib, a strategic city.

2 avril 2022. Entry into force of a truce negotiated by the UN. It expires on October 2, but the situation remains relatively calm on the ground.

10 mars 2023. Iranian-Saudi rapprochement.

20 mars. Agreement on an exchange of prisoners.

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