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Summary: One third of the population in Sa’ada, Northern Yemen, have fled their homes following the sixth round of conflict between the Houthis and the army in August 2009. Children have been separated from their families, recruited, detained, injured or killed in the clashes.
(3 February 2011) The afternoon sun sets a deep red as young girls play football in the dust of a school playground on the outskirts of Amran city, around 50km north of Sana’a. In one of the dark classrooms, girls aged 2 to 15 scramble around screaming and playing. Others are sat in circles reciting the Qur’an or playing board games. But huddled in the corner is a girl sat in silence. She stares down at the floor, oblivious to the confused revelry around her. Her mind is still on her home back in Sa’ada. “I try to avoid the topic altogether. It brings back painful memories and she still suffers from nightmares and panic attacks,” said Imam Al-Radjowi, a 22 year old sports teacher, beckoning to the ten year-old girl in the corner. With a little encouragement, Amat Al-Malik does eventually speak. Predictably it is about the war, and more specifically, the day that fighting broke out between the army and Houthi rebels. Amat and her family were forced to flee their village in the neighbouring governorate of Sa’ada. “There were flashes and explosions in the sky. The next day we ran away and there were pieces of body on the side of the road!” she murmurs, swaying slowly back and forth. Amat is one of tens of thousands of youngsters whose lives have been turned upside down by the six cycles of armed conflict between government forces and the Houthis, a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in north west Yemen. The conflict has been long and bloody, killing several thousand people and displacing some 175,000 civilians. One third of the population in Sa’ada – the centre of the fighting - have fled their homes. In the mayhem children have become separated from their families. They have been recruited, detained, injured or killed in the clashes, and the survivors continue to bear those scars. As families flee from the north to escape the fighting, memories of constant aerial bombardments, the widespread use of child soldiers, and the sight of dead bodies still haunt these children. Like many others Amat suffers from a form of psychological trauma. Her teachers describe her as being ‘deeply disturbed’ and unable to talk or interact with those around her. Another problem teachers face is violence. Some children, Al-Radjowi says, fight, bite and kick when you approach them. “For many of Sa’ada’s children, violence has been the focus of their entire lives. They have witnessed fighting in their town and violence in their homes,” she said. Child soldiers But psychosocial distress is not the only problem here – some children are already participating in the conflict itself. It is estimated that children account for around half of all fighters in both the tribes allied with the Houthis and the government-allied tribes. “The northern Houthi rebels are known for using tribes which themselves use child soldiers,” said Ahmed Al-Qurashi, director of the Sana’a based Seyaj Organisation for Childhood protection. “We know that among these tribes, on a regular basis, more than half of the fighters are under the legal age,” he said. The government accuses the Houthi rebels of using children as soldiers and of recruiting young boys from schools in Sa’ada into their “Believing Youth” movement. But the government’s own record is not exactly blemish free. Although the official minimum age for joining the army is eighteen, the tribes which the government arms and finances to fight the Houthis alongside the army also often use children. “The government is not knowingly recruiting underage soldiers into the army, but the tribal militias they support are using child soldiers,” says Andrew Moore, the country director of Save the Children in Yemen. “It’s a deep cultural issue, but if we don’t talk about it, it’s never going to change.” Part of the problem is that many children in Yemen, even those not involved in conflict, are brought up amidst a heavily weapons-orientated culture. “Manhood is linked with bearing arms. A father feels proud to see his son carrying a gun,” says Abdul-Rahman Al-Marwani, chairman of the Dar Al-Salaam Organisation to Combat Revenge and Violence. “The participation of children in armed conflict is often regarded as normal.” In Yemen, it is often claimed that there are three times as many guns as there are people, and young boys learn to carry an AK-47 from an early age. Almost half of Yemen’s 23.5 million people are under fifteen, according to 2009 World Bank estimates. Back in the school of Amran, the girls stand in single file chanting the Yemeni national anthem while the teachers count them before they leave for home. Amat refuses to join in, preferring instead to sit and watch from the edge of the playground. She has opened up a bit and talks about her home in Sa’ada. “My village is so green, it’s a beautiful place. My father said a few months ago that we might be able to go back,” she said staring forlornly across the playground at the other children. But with the fighting getting worse, it seems unlikely she will be able to return home any time soon. The cycle of violence, displacement, resentment and more violence seems set to continue.