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Yemen's Al-Rowaishan mass transport between a tribal rock and a government hard place

By Amira Al-Arasi Al-Rowaishan buses, Yemen's first and most famous means of mass transport, have stopped making trips between Sana'a and Marib, allegedly because of marauding highwaymen.

Mohammed Al-Khazraji, Al-Rowaishan's general manager, said that, "The company has been losing up to YR 150,000 a day since the incident that occurred on the highway last year. Between 12 December 2010 and 31 March 2011, that amounts to about YR 10 million."

Al-Khazraji described some of the tribesmen in Marib as being quasi-bandits. "The lack of any rule of law," he explained, "encourages such tribes to go too far and barefacedly blackmail the company."

The episode of alleged highway banditry took place on 12 December 2010 and there are a number of conflicting reports as to what actually took place. What is certain is that the incident resulted in several serious injuries amongst Al-Rowaishan employees. As a consequence the company has had to pay nearly YR 10 million in healthcare bills.

"We have issued an appeal for help from the national security services, but thus far it's been in vain," said Al-Khazraji.

"Immediately after the incident, six of our buses were detained by the tribesmen," continued Al-Khazraji. "Now, two buses are still being held. They refuse to repair the buses themselves so we have paid them USD 28,000 in cash [for maintenance]. We are losing money by the day. I have informed the Minister of the Interior and the Sana'a security administration - as well as the transport administration - and they have all reached the same conclusion: they are not able to take any action against the tribesmen. They advised me instead to negotiate with the men, which we did, but without reaching any agreement."

The Yemen Times called Ali Mohammed Al-Qarith, a relative of one of the victims of the unfortunate event. According to him, two of his brothers and his son were driving their private car two kilometers from the refinery at which they work, when an Al-Rowaishan bus crashed into their vehicle, causing it to overturn six times.

"The bus driver fled the scene without even trying to save the victims," said Al-Qarith. "Some good people who happened to be at the locations of the accident took the injured people to a hospital. Now, one of my brothers is in a coma and is suffering spasms. I have also taken my injured relatives to Cairo to receive medical treatment."

Al-Qarith said that he sent a letter to Sheikh Mohammed bin Yahya Al-Rowaishan, overall chief of the Al-Rowaishan company, asking him to pay for the hospital bills that, up until this point, he has had to pay out of his own pocket. He claims that the company did not respond positively to his request and that his relatives are now one month behind their originally anticipated discharge date in Cairo.

Despite discrepancies between the statements given by Al-Rowaishan's traffic officer and the refinery employees, the statement that should most definitely be taken into consideration is that of the bus driver, Rasheed Al-Yafi'ee.

"While we were leaving the refinery," said "Al-Yafi'ee, "four armed men stopped us with their vehicle. Two of them boarded our bus and the other two waited outside. An old man from the oil company pleaded for the men to leave us alone, but they did not pay him any attention. This is considered shameful according to tribal conventions. The armed men then asked the passengers to leave the bus immediately."

Al-Yafi'ee continued by saying that he was ordered by the gunmen to drive the bus to a certain yard, where he then parked and left with the ignition key in hand. After that, he informed Al-Rowaishan of the incident.

Ali Saleh, an employee of the oil company, told the Yemen Times a different version of the story: "The company I work for provides us with transportation home after every month of work. When the Al-Rowaishan bus arrived, I and seven of my colleagues got on board. About 50 kilometers from the refinery, a man brandishing a gun forced us to stop. Two young men - I believe they must have been between 18 and 20 years old - boarded the bus and asked us to get off. When we asked why, they told us that another Al-Rowaishan bus had collided with one of their tribe's vehicles (they were from the Hatiq tribe), causing injuries to the driver. They also said that after two months, their fellow tribesman had not received medical treatment, nor had his vehicle been repaired."

According to Saleh, he and the other refinery employees refused to get off the bus. One of the young armed men then called his father, who instructed them to seize the vehicle. An hour-long negotiation ensued, whereupon one of the refinery workers called his company to brief them on the situation. The refinery managed to organize three other cars to take the employees to Sana'a. The bus driver was left behind.

"I don't know what happened to the driver after the bandits took him and the bus," said Saleh. "I think that if security forces had been there, none of this could have happened."

Tribes are known for being hospitable and generous to their guests (and even their hostages). However, when it comes to the injury or death of one of their people, if the government fails to impose a swift and acceptable penalty, the tribe becomes a government unto itself.

Ahmed Al-Turki, Al-Rowaishan's traffic officer, stated that the bus referred to by Ali Saleh is still being held by the tribesmen and that the driver had been released four days after the incident.

"At this moment," asserted Al-Turki, "there are three other [Al-Rowaishan] buses being held in Sayun, Al-Mukalla and Shabwa. There is no security - especially lately. All points of access and exit are controlled by the tribes."

As for the alleged accident with the tribesman's car, Al-Turki said, "The truth is that the car overturned next to our bus, but we had nothing to do with the accident. Tribes are difficult to reason with, though, so we had little choice but to ask the insurance company to pay them. I have no idea of the exact damagest that were paid."

Al-Turki also said that Al-Rowaishan owns a total of 37 buses, whose routes cover most of the country.

The Yemen Oil Company has a contract with Al-Rowaishan, guaranteeing the safe transport of its employees to and from the capital.

"We have no choice but to contract Al-Rowaishan to move our employees in and out of Sana'a," said Tahrir Radman, the Yemen Oil Company's general director of financial and administrative affairs. "Moving them by air is very costly. But now we don't know what will happen - what safe alternative means we can provide our employees after such an incident."

The Yemen Times also spoke with Sheikh Naji Al-Iradah, the mediator between the tribesmen and Al-Rowaishan, and who was chosen by Sheikh Al-Qaridh and approved by the company.

"Al-Rowaishan has not denied the accident and has therefore paid a YR 1 million penalty," said Al-Iradah. "It also submitted four machine guns as a tribal arbitration convention immediately after the accident. After we held a meeting, the company agreed to pay a further USD 28,000 in cash for each of the USD 21,000 vehicles. This payment was made through me."

Al-Iradah continued by saying that, "As a tribal convention, when an arbitration is taking place, no party is allowed to violate the verdicts that are passed. Otherwise, the violator must pay a fine of up to YR 500,000. As such, when Al-Qarith held the buses after the mediation, this was considered a violation."

Al-Iradah added that Al-Rowaishan is still waiting for the tribesmen's healthcare bills, so as to be able to pay the remainder of its penalty.

"As their mediator," said Al-Iradah, "I had no idea that the injured persons were one month behind their discharge date [in Cairo]. Al-Qarith should have told me that."

© Yemen Times 2011