Abdallah ibn Husain al-Ahmar

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Abdallah ibn Husain al-Ahmar (full name: Abdullah bin Husain bin Nasser bin Mabchut al-Ahmar , Arabic عبد الله بن حسين الأحمر, DMG ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥusain al-Aḥmar ; *  1933 in Hesin Habour ; †  December 28, 2007 in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia ) was a Yemeni politician and tribal leader. He was President of the Yemeni Parliament from 1993 until his death .

Life

youth

Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar was Chief Sheikh of the Hashid Tribal Confederation , whose territory lies in the north-west and north of Yemen . He received his primary education in a small kottab near Hesin Habour, where he learned to read, write and the Koran . His father Sheikh Husain ibn Nasser al-Ahmar († 1959) was always viewed with suspicion by the ruler of Yemen, Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ad-Din and his son and successor Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Mohammed Hamid ad-Din. In order to keep the father under control, Abdullah's older brother Hamid ibn Husain al-Ahmar was held hostage by Imam Ahmed. As a result, Hamid's responsibilities for family affairs were passed on to his younger brother Abdullah, who took care of the house and yard, welcoming the guests, the workers and shepherds and the livestock in Al-Osaimat and the districts belonging to the al-Ahmar family in Hajjah Province had to worry.

His father Sheikh Husain was interned by Imam Ahmed on suspicion of supporting the Free Yemenis in the murder of Imam Yahya and the subsequent unsuccessful coup in 1948 . In negotiations with Imam Ahmed in Taizz, the son Abdullah tried in vain for three years to free his father and his brother who had been held hostage. Finally, he was able to persuade Imam Ahmed to give his father a year off to settle tribal affairs and to allow his brother to marry in his home village. For this, Abdullah himself was imprisoned as a surety for a total of three years. In the early 1950s, Hamid al-Ahmar became friends with the later Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr , who temporarily made him one of the leaders of his personal bodyguard ("Ukfah").

When Imam Ahmed traveled to Rome for medical treatment in the spring of 1959 , Sheikh Husain and his son Hamid took on a leading role in the growing resistance to the imam's despotic rule. To cope with the growing unrest, Crown Prince Mohammed al-Badr had paid bribes to the northern tribes during the medical treatment of his father in Italy in the summer of 1959. After his return from Rome, Imam Ahmed in Hodeida demanded in a threatening speech what he saw as excessive subsidies and threatened that he would bring fire over every red (Arabic: Ahmar) and green (Arabic: Achdar) who attacked them Resist invitation. As a result, there were uprisings and clashes with the northern tribes.

Allegedly in order to defuse the tense atmosphere that had developed, Imam Ahmed, the penultimate king of the Kingdom of Yemen , invited Sheikh Husain, who had called his tribal warriors near Huth , to the capital in Sanaa with the assurance of safe conduct in early October 1959 . There Husain refused a repayment again. Imam Ahmed then had him arrested. In the meantime, his son Hamid was arrested after a brief resistance in the northern al-Jauf province in Dahr al-Dhomain and taken by plane first to Hodeida and from there to the prison in Hajjah together with his father. There, on the instructions of the Imam, Hamid was beheaded and two weeks later his father Husain was beheaded. Meanwhile, Imam Ahmed had also launched a military operation against the Hashid tribe, demolishing houses and confiscating the al-Ahmar's property. Other sources say that Imam Ahmed ordered the beheading of Hussain and Hamid in a fit of rage at his favorite spa Ain Sukhna near Hodeidah after a violent argument.

At the same time as these events, Sheikh Abdullah went to Ain Sokhna to attend the official receptions and celebrations for the return of Imam Ahmed from Italy on behalf of his father. From there he was lured to al-Hudaida on the pretext of meeting his father there, but he was arrested in prison and deported fifteen days later to the prison in Al-Mahabisha, where he remained until the outbreak of the revolution on April 26. September 1962 stayed for three years. In Ain Sukhna and then in prison, Sheikh Abdullah met many dignitaries, sheiks, scientists, politicians and intellectuals who would later play an important role in the revolution and beyond. The violation of the old tribal rule of safe conduct led to a break between the Hamid al-Din family and the Hashid tribal federation, which after the September Revolution of 1962 contributed significantly to the end of the Imamate.

Subversion

When the coup began on the evening of September 26, 1962 with the attack on the Imam's Al-Bashaer Palace in Sanaa, Sheikh Abdullah was immediately liberated at the instigation of the leader and later first President of the Yemen Arab Republic, Colonel Abdullah as-Sallal . On the second day of the revolution, Sheikh Abdullah, accompanied by soldiers and dignitaries whose support he had secured for the revolution, went to Abs north of Hajjah, where he was received as a guest of honor by tribal representatives. It was not possible to pursue and arrest the fallen imam Mohammed al-Badr, who had fled north, but in the civil war that followed (1962 to 1970), Sheikh Abdullah and the Hashid tribes he led, despite fluctuating political conditions, performed with the in and Around Khamir, 50,000 tribal warriors gathered until January 1970 to make an important, if not decisive, contribution to the defense of the revolution and thus ensured the survival of the Yemeni Arab Republic . On the fourth day of the revolution there was also a meeting in Sanaa between Sheikh Abdullah and the great poet and politician Mohammed Mahmoud al-Zubairi. The relationship between the two men, characterized by respect and admiration, lasted until al-Zubairi was murdered on April 16, 1965. Sheikh Abdullah saw al-Zubairi as a symbol of the Yemeni revolution against the autocracy of the Imamate, while al-Zubairi saw in Sheikh Abdullah the hero of the revolution and the bulwark against the return of the Hamid ad-Din family and against oppression and backwardness.

Under the leadership of al-Zubairi, both stood against the Egyptian-influenced pro-military wing under President al-Sallal and for a pro-republican policy aimed at internal reconciliation and reform. When, following the assassination of al-Zubairi, President al-Sallal on April 18, 1965, replaced Prime Minister General Hassan al-Amri with Ahmad Muhammad Numan, Khamir, north of Sanaa in the Hashid tribal area, became the military and political center of the revolution. A peace conference was held from April 30 to May 5, 1965 in the city, which had previously been the target of Yemeni intellectuals, sheikhs and officers who had supported al-Zubairi in his call for peace and internal reconciliation. Later referred to as the “second Yemeni revolution”, although the royalists had refused to take part, it made the first attempt to find a peaceful solution to the civil war together with the royalists, radically turning away from the previous dominated politics. Since this policy met fierce opposition from Gamal Abdel Nasser , Ahmad Mohammad Numan was forced to resign on June 28, 1965. Hassan al-Amri was reinstated. But this change meant that many leaders (all of them participants in the Khamir conference), including Sheikh Numan ibn Qaid ibn Rajih and Sheikh Sinan Abu Luhum from the Bakil tribe, also Sheikh Abdullah, went into voluntary exile in the emirate Baihan switched.

Even after his assassination, Sheikh Abdullah remained loyal to al-Zubairi's demands for a political reform based on the principles of Sharia against backwardness and fanaticism. Sheikh Abdullah was one of the forces who, after the withdrawal of the Egyptian allies and the overthrow of al-Sallal as part of the corrective movement on November 5, 1967, succeeded in keeping the September Revolution from collapse and established a three-member presidential council under Abdul Rahman al- Iriani's chairmanship. In the winter of 1967–1968, with the help of Sheikh Abdullah, the seventy-day royalist blockade of the capital Sanaa was finally brought to an end by influencing the tribes bought by the royalists. It is also due to its political weight that, contrary to the development in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), left-wing and communist ideas in the Yemen Arab Republic could not prevail.

When, through the mediation of Saudi Arabia, a reconciliation with compromising conservatives and an end to the civil war became apparent, Sheikh Abdullah was elected President of the National Assembly of the Yemen Arab Republic at the end of 1969, with the task of drafting a new constitution. Finally he took over the office of President of the "Supreme Council" (Majlis al-shura) from 1970 to 1975 and was a member of various governments as Minister of the Interior in the following years. When unification with South Yemen failed in 1972 and economic and social problems arose, Sheikh Abdullah became one of the leading critics of the political crisis. In order to avoid a further escalation, Sheikh Abdullah took part in the so-called "corrective movement". He supported the overthrow of President al-Iriani on July 13, 1974 and operated the peaceful transfer of power to a military command council under Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi . When a long smoldering dispute broke out in the Command Council between traditionalist tribal representatives and progressive officers, the “Supreme Council” (Majlis al-shura), chaired by Sheikh Abdullah, was dissolved. He then withdrew to Khamir in October 1975 with other Hashid sheikhs. The dispute led to the assassination of al-Hamdi in October 1977 . Even his successor, Ahmad al-Ghashmi, failed to resolve the dispute between the tribes and South Yemen. For his part, he was murdered in June 1978 . Finally , with the help of the northern tribes and financial support from Saudi Arabia , Ali Abdullah Saleh , the military governor of Taiz, who was elected president to succeed al-Ghashmi, ended the dispute with the south.

Supreme council

In 1979 Sheikh Abdullah became a member of the "Supreme Council" (Majlis al-shura) again and from 1982 until the reunification of the country in 1990 took a seat on the standing committee of the ruling General People's Congress .

In the course of the unification of the Yemeni Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the Democratic People's Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) in 1990 and after the introduction of the multiparty system, he founded the Yemeni Socialist Party (Islah Party) and took over its chairmanship. The Islah Party (Yemeni Reform Party), which unites scholars, sheiks, intellectuals, business people, young people and working women from all walks of life in a people's party, sees itself as a representative of moderate Islam and as an advocate for the concerns of the Yemeni tribes. Even after the renewed civil war from August 1993 to July 1994, the party campaigned for the continuation of the country's unity.

In the first free elections of the Republic of Yemen in 1993 , Sheikh Abdullah was elected to the new parliament and on May 15, 1993, as opposition leader, was elected President of the Yemeni parliament. After the elections in 1997 and 2003, he was repeatedly re-elected in this office until his death.

death

Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar died on January 29, 2007 in a hospital in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia, after a series of illnesses including injuries to the chest and arms and legs he sustained in a car accident in Senegal in 2004 . Arabia, of cancer.

He is described by many as one of the most important and influential Yemeni politicians of his time. However, there are also critical voices. After his death, his son Sadiq al-Ahmar took over the leadership of the Hashid tribal confederation.

Web links

• Website of Abdallah Ibn Husayn al-Ahmar (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. P. 229 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
2. ↑ on Paul Dresch cf. Archive link ( Memento from April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ cf. on Ukfah: p. 292 “Unmaking north and south: Spatial histories of modern Yemen” by John M. Willis, New York University, 2007
4. ↑ cf. P. 239 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
5. ↑ cf. P. 212 “The Muslim world: a historical survey. Modern times “, Volume 4, by H. Scheel, Gerhard Jaschke, u. a., Brill Archive, 1981
6. ↑ cf. Pp. 125 ff. “Modern Yemen: 1918–1966”, by Manfred W. Wenner, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967
7. ↑ cf. on the text "The Interplay between Tribal Affinities and Religious Authority in the Yemen" by RB Serjeant, al-Abhath, 30 (1982)
8. ↑ cf. P. 241 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
9. ↑ cf. www.alahmar.net/nprint.php?lng=arabic&sid
10. ↑ cf. P. 240 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
11. ↑ cf. Pp. 125 ff. “Modern Yemen: 1918–1966”, by Manfred W. Wenner, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967
12. ↑ cf. to Ain Sokhna http://www.alahmar.net/nprint.php?lng=arabic&sid=705
13. ↑ cf. 270. Footnote 6, “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen,” by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
14. ↑ cf. P. 194 "Modern Yemen: 1918–1966", by Manfred W. Wenner, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967
15. ↑ cf. P. 245 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
16. ↑ cf. see www.alahmar.net/det.php?sid=705
17. ↑ cf. P. 251 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
18. ↑ cf. Pp. 217 ff. “Modern Yemen: 1918–1966”, by Manfred W. Wenner, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967
19. ↑ cf. P. 261 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
20. ↑ cf. P. 263 “Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen”, by Paul Dresch, Clarendon Press, 1993
21. ↑ Islah (Yémen). 1993 election report. In: www.medea.be. Institut Européen de Recherche sur la Coopération Méditerranéenne et Euro-Arabe, October 1994, archived from the original on September 22, 2007 ; Retrieved on August 25, 2013 (French). 
22. ↑ "Speaker of Yemeni parliament dies" ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Middle East Online, December 29, 2007 
23. ↑ cf. z. B. arabia2day.com/featured/the-al-ahmar-family