Middle East & Africa | Yemen

A city on edge

Once seen as Yemen’s most sophisticated city, Taiz is in a bad way

|TAIZ

THE assassination of the brother of a prominent tribal leader on October 13th has pushed Taiz, Yemen’s third city and capital of its most populous province, closer to the edge. Faisal al-Mikhlafi, a college professor, was gunned down in broad daylight, providing stark evidence (if it were needed) that Taiz, like so much of Yemen, is a twitchy place. Nowadays the city of a million people, say some residents, feels like a powder keg waiting with trepidation for a spark.

During the upheaval that began, along with the rest of the Arab world’s, in 2011, Taiz was a hot spot. Both Islamists and left-wing secular types rose up in revolt against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been in power for more than 30 years. Clashes turned parts of the city into a virtual war-zone and continued even after Mr Saleh agreed to step down in late 2011. Since then, armed men have continued to proliferate in the streets. Clashes occasionally occur. The economy is dire. The people of Taiz still do not feel safe.

After Mr Saleh’s fall, the city’s controversial governor, Hamoud al-Sufi, was replaced by Shawki Ahmed Hayel Saeed, a scion of Taiz’s richest business family, under the aegis of the new president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The city has since been run more openly. But Mr Saeed has failed to restore order, and can rely on the backing neither of Mr Saleh’s old friends nor of jousting local leaders.

So Taiz feels trapped in a general malaise. The assassination of Mr Mikhlafi has been put down to a long-running tribal blood feud. Sheikh Hamoud al-Mikhlafi, the dead man’s brother, a backer of the main Islamist party, has blamed a “third hand”. Conspiracy theories abound. Some hint that Mr Saleh’s people were behind the murder. Whatever the reason, some fear that the city may be plunged into a tit-for-tat series of reprisals.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "A city on edge"

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