The Marib paradox: How one province succeeds in the midst of Yemen’s war / Port in a Decisive Storm: The battle for Hudayda

As the Yemen crisis deepened in June 2018 with a battle for the Houthi-held port city of Al-Hudaydah (Hudayda), Adam Baron looked in this ECFR Policy Brief at a bright spot amid conflict: the province of Marib, which had transformed from one of the country’s most troubled areas into one of its most stable.

Further information

+ The province of Marib in Yemen has undergone a remarkable transformation, from a place of conflict to beacon of relative stability even while the war continues in Yemen, including not far from Marib.
+ Central to this improvement is the leadership shown by the province’s governor, Sheikh Sultan al-Arada, who has taken advantage of the decentralisation drive that was supposed to form part of Yemen’s post-uprising transition but which has recorded only patchy success.
+ Marib’s newly acquired autonomy has allowed it to retain a share of its natural resource wealth, improve infrastructure, and expand government services, including paying state employees regularly and supporting a functioning judicial system.
+ Decentralisation processes which are locally led in this way represent a core lesson for international players interested in extending stability and peace across Yemen.
+ Europeans should work to bolster stabilisation in Marib while applying its lessons elsewhere in Yemen, at all times linking their efforts to those of the UN while collaborating with regional and international partners.

• Primary Source

ECFR: Commentary, 21.06.18: Port in a Decisive Storm: The battle for Hudayda http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_port_in_a_decisive_storm_the_battle_for_hudayda

United Nations: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): 2018 Yemen High-Level Pledging Event, April 2018 http://www.europeansources.info/record/2018-yemen-high-level-pledging-event/

ECFR: Commentary, 30.08.17: Local actors hold key to de-escalation in Yemen http://www.europeansources.info/record/local-actors-hold-key-to-de-escalation-in-yemen/

BBC News: Yemen crisis http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/e6b869f9-0a85-47e9-a098-d5b48e018b1a/yemen-crisis

ICG: Yemen https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/yemen

EU: EEAS: Yemen and the EU https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/1877/yemen-and-eu_en

ECFR: Report, 2017: Mapping the Yemen conflict (et al) http://www.europeansources.info/record/mapping-the-yemen-conflict-yemen-is-fast-becoming-a-global-not-regional-problem/

Al Jazeera: Topic: Yemen https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/country/yemen.html

ICG: Q&A: Middle East and North Africa: Commentary, 07.09.18: Is the Yemen Peace Process Coming Back to Life? https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/yemen/yemen-peace-process-coming-back-life

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