Chapter
7:
Case
studies
in
Sana’a
basin
People
nowadays
choose
between
multiple
strategies
to
resolve
their
conflicts.
When
tribal
arbitration
fails
to
resolve
the
conflict,
mediation
is
used.
Mediators
are
more
successful
than
arbiters,
but
even
then
“only
good
and
non-‐partisan
mediators
are
helpful”
according
to
focus
group
participants
from
Shahik.
They
all
agree
that
mediators
are
more
successful
in
resolving
conflicts.
Perhaps
because
mediators
are
not
traditionally
as
influential
as
sheikhs
and
hence
were
not
corrupted
or
distracted
by
political
parties.
People
do
not
usually
proceed
to
the
court
to
resolve
their
conflict,
partly
due
to
expense,
but
more
importantly
because
it
is
ineffective.
They
prefer
to
resolve
their
conflicts
on
their
own.
“For
us
tribes,
we
use
no
courts
when
killing
happens.
We
just
use
Urf
(customary
law)”,
said
Fahdl
Mana’a,
Sheik
Dhaman
from
Bani
Husheish.
Proving
this
ineffectiveness,
he
talked
about
more
than
320
land
dispute
cases
that
people
had
attempted
to
resolve
through
courts
for
decades
without
success.
Sometimes
a
district
director
and
security
director
can
intervene
in
their
own
personal
capacity
to
help
resolve
conflicts
if
people
have
asked
them
to.
However,
it
is
uncommon
and
participants
could
not
remember
any
serious
case
in
which
they
intervened.
Another
challenge
facing
tribal
conflict
resolution
is
the
death
of
the
older
generations
who
had
the
knowledge
and
experience
to
resolve
conflicts.
One
interviewee
counted
six
prominent
sheikhs
in
the
area
that
had
recently
died.
Even
though
the
sons
of
those
tribal
leaders
and
those
who
worked
closely
with
them
managed
to
learn
the
rules
from
the
sheikhs,
their
knowledge
and
experience
is
still
insufficient.
Some
mediators
or
arbitrators
who
lack
the
experience
end
up
causing
more
problems.
“They
only
take
the
rules
they
like
and
ignore
the
rest”.
In
the
larger
Bani
Seham
area,
there
is
a
family
of
Hashimites
(the
Al-‐Seraji
family
in
Adhaba’aat)
that
traditionally
played
the
role
of
mediators.
During
their
rules,
since
897,
the
imams
intentionally
established
Hashemites
communities
in
the
crossroads
between
different
tribes
so
that
they
can
help
mediate
conflicts.
They
still
do
that
until
today.
In
the
power