Fighting continues in the northern region of Saada, although press agencies are providing differing accounts of casualties. Last Saturday the AP reported 20 militants and nine troops killed, while Reuters reported at least 36 people dead. While the AFP says more than 80 militants and soldiers have been killed since fighting resumed in late March, the local news source Al-Sahwa.net , citing tribal sources, claimed a death toll of more than 150 in clashes on March 30 th alone. At least 540 followers of Al-Hothi have been detained, according to an AP report dated April 3 rd; Reuters said the same day that the number exceeded 800.
The total death toll since the rebellion of the Faithful Youth erupted in June 2004 – according to an AP count exceeded 600, but many people in Yemen suspect an actual body count numbering in the thousands. The reports are as varied and colorful as their sources, from “tribal figures” in the battle-torn province to the oft-cited “anonymous security official”. A common point is that there are no journalists in Saada.
There is no official press gag on reporting details of the Saada rebellion, but journalists are forbidden to travel to the north - a fact only stated by “anonymous sources.” Meanwhile communication between officials and the media is lacking. Illustrating the problem, though in relation to a different incident of tribal violence last week, a Sana’a-based senior security official, who asked not to be named, refused to comment on the clashes: “We were ordered by the Ministry of Interior not to give statements to the media, except to Al-Hares [published by the Ministry of Interior] and 26 September [published by the armed forces],” he said to Al-Sahwa , an opposition paper.
Meanwhile there are no official numbers of casualties, and no official liaison between the press and the defense and security forces. So the logic appears to be this: no one has the right to criticize unless they know the truth. Yet no one can know the truth since investigations are discouraged. As the Minister of Interior said on Wednesday, April 6, “we are not very sensitive about the news as long as it is true.”
The heads of the Information and Interior ministries said during a meeting last week that one of the roles of the press is to increase trust and confidence among the public in the country’s various security agencies. However, one must question how an unclear policy can gain confidence.
The policy is already having a negative effect on the Yemeni public, as channels of communication are closed except via specific, officially sanctioned routes. When casualty statistics conflict so often, it is difficult to know whom to trust.
The information vacuum affects the international community as it tries to watch events unfold in Saada. There are more questions than answers, and the conflicting news that does come through only erodes confidence and replaces it with mistrust.
