Mafraj Radio

This episode features another entry in our Wartime Journal series. We’ve asked contributors in different parts of Yemen to record audio journal entries for us, conveying their own personal experience of Yemen’s ongoing war. Our first installments featured recordings by an anonymous civil servant living in San’a. That same contributor offers her observations on how Yemen’s war has pushed millions of Yemenis into deep poverty, and even starvation. We’ll hear more from other citizen journalists in future installments of the Wartime Journal. If you’d like to record your own journal entry for Mafraj Radio, email us at podcast@yemenpeaceproject.org. We will protect contributors’ identities to whatever extent necessary; we can even disguise or replace your voice.

This episode includes the first two installments in a new recurring feature we’re calling the Wartime Journal. We’ve asked contributors in different parts of Yemen to record audio journal entries for us, conveying their own personal experience of Yemen’s ongoing war. Our first journal entry comes from Yemen’s capital, San’a. It was recorded by a young government employee, who chooses not to use her name for fear of retaliation. This contributor provides a remarkable perspective on life in wartime San’a, and gives us a glimpse into the dysfunction of Yemen’s central government under the control of Ansar Allah, or the Houthi movement. Since UN-sponsored peace talks broke down in August, airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Houthi-Saleh forces have intensified in San’a and other parts of northern Yemen. Our contributor in San’a does not support the Houthis, but believes that the air campaign against them is only making things worse. You can read about the impact of airstrikes on Yemeni civilians here. Find more information about our October 15 fundraising event in Washington DC here.

On this episode of Mafraj Radio, we meet Tair, Liron, and Tagel Haim, three Israeli sisters from a Yemeni Jewish family, who perform Yemenite folk music with a modern twist. Their band, A-WA, released their first video online last year, and have found eager audiences throughout Europe and the US, as well as at home in Israel. A-WA’s debut album, Habib Galbi, was released in June in the US by S-Curve Records. You can purchase the album on Amazon or iTunes, and learn more about the band on their website. Songs featured in this episode: “Galbi Haway” “Habib Galbi” “Zangabila”

On this episode, YPP’s Hannah Porter speaks with UNOCHA’s Jamie McGoldrick about the coordinated response to Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe, and we learn about how Yemeni coffee could play a role in the country’s economic recovery. To read more about the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the international humanitarian response to Yemen, visit www.unocha.org/yemen. You can find UNOCHA’s new Yemen appeal for 2016 here (PDF). To learn more about Yemeni coffee, and to buy some delicious coffee to enjoy at home, visit www.almokha.com. Make sure to support the YPP by selecting “Mafraj Radio Podcast” under the heading “How did you hear about us?” on the checkout page!

On this episode we learn about the UNDP’s innovative new model for development in Yemen from project specialist Farah Abdessamad, and speak with journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi about last month’s peace talks in Switzerland. You can learn more about UNDP’s “Yemen our Home” initiative here. You can read more of Nawal Al-Maghafi’s coverage of the December peace talks here.

On this episode we speak with Sahar Nuraddin, a local humanitarian aid worker in Aden, about how life in the southern port city has changed since Coalition and Resistance forces drove pro-Houthi forces out. We also take a look at the horrific situation in the central highland city of Ta‘iz, where pro-Houthi forces are maintaining an illegal siege, making life almost impossible for local civilians. Learn more about how Sahar’s House of Life Foundation and the YPP are helping displaced women and families in Aden. If you’re in the Washington, DC area, you can join us for a networking happy hour on October 28th at 5:30pm. Details here. Join Mafraj Radio host Will Picard for a screening of Khadija al-Salami’s new feature film I am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced, at the Arabian Sights Film Festival in Washington DC, on October 24 and 25. Details and tickets here.

On this episode we revisit three of the most important interviews we’ve broadcast since the beginning of Yemen’s internationalized armed conflict in March of this year: Nadwa al-Dawsari on the conflict in Marib, Alex Potter on Yemeni refugees and life during wartime in San‘a, and Professor Muneer Ahmed on the conflict’s impact on al-Hudaydah and the Tihamah. Join Mafraj Radio host Will Picard for a screening of Khadija al-Salami’s new feature film I am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced, at the Arabian Sights Film Festival in Washington DC, on October 24 and 25. Details and tickets here.

On this episode we speak with Dr. Muneer Ahmed, a resident of the Red Sea coastal city of al-Hudaydah, about the local impact of Yemen’s ongoing war. The Tihamah region of Yemen has been neglected–both by the powers that be and by the press–for a long time. Today we shed a bit of light on what locals are going through. You can read Mohammed Ali Kalfood’s in-depth reporting on the Dengue fever epidemic here. Check out Ammar Basha’s short documentary on the grievances of al-Hudaydah residents below. This film is part of Ammar’s series of short docs, “Days in the Heart of the Revolution,” which we featured in our 2014 International Yemeni Film & Arts Festival.

On this episode we talk with British-Yemeni activist and journalist Rawan Shaif al-Aghbari about the current situation in San‘a. We also hear about this month’s preliminary, UN-backed peace talks in Geneva, from journalists Nawal al-Maghafi and Adam Baron. Nawal al-Maghafi is a reporter and filmmaker based in London. She covers current affairs for Al Araby TV, and has produced programs for the BBC and other outlets. Adam Baron is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He lived in San’a for several years, covering Yemen for McClatchy and other US-based outlets. Rawan Shaif al-Aghbari is a British-Yemeni videographer and freelance writer who made her journey back home to San‘a via boat during the second month of the war on Yemen. Since arriving in Yemen, Rawan has been using photography to document life during wartime. A few of her photos are below. Click on a photo to enlarge.

On this short episode we speak with American photojournalist Alex K. Potter, one of the few western journalists reporting from inside Yemen. Alex has been taking extraordinary photographs of life in Yemen for over three years. We featured her series Waiting for Guantanamo in our 2014 Film & Arts Festival. Throughout last week, The New Yorker magazine featured Alex’s latest series, Journey Home, on its Instagram feed. The series documents the difficult voyage many Yemenis are making back to Yemen from Djibouti, where thousands of Yemenis have sought refuge. You can see Alex’s latest photos from the Old City of San‘a on her Instagram feed, @alexkpotter.

On this episode we take a closer look at one of the many front lines in Yemen’s civil war(s), the governorate of Marib, where local tribes are fighting to repel pro-Houthi and pro-Saleh forces. We also talk about the politics behind Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen, and look back at Change Square, four years after Yemen’s popular uprising. Nadwa al-Dawsari, who explains the conflict in Marib for us, is an expert in tribal affairs and conflict in Yemen. She’s a nonresident senior fellow at the Project for Middle East Democracy, and has worked at several other think-tanks and NGOs in the US and Yemen. Peter Salisbury is an analyst and journalist who has written about Yemen for several years. You can hear him talk about the Houthi movement on episodes 13 and 16 of Mafraj Radio. Atiaf Alwazir is a researcher, writer, photographer, and activist. She’s currently based in Tunis.

On this episode we discuss Yemen’s escalating civil war between forces aligned with the Houthi movement and former president ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Saleh on one side, and Yemen’s recently-ousted president ‘Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi and other regional factions on the other. On March 25, a coalition of foreign governments led by Saudi Arabia joined the war, launching hundreds of airstrikes against pro-Houthi and pro-Saleh forces. Hundreds of Yemenis have been killed so far, most of them civilians. On March 29 we interviewed Yemeni freelance journalist (and Mafraj Blog contributor) Mohammed Ali Kalfood about the situation in San‘a. On March 31 we spoke with Summer Nasser, a Yemeni-American living in Aden, on Yemen’s southern coast. Since that interview, fighting in Aden has spread to all districts of the city, with pro-Houthi forces shelling civilian neighborhoods. Summer is one of many Yemeni-Americans working to bring attention to the fact that the US government has done nothing to evacuate or aid American citizens trapped in Yemen. You can read more about that issue here. A group of Arab-American advocacy organizations have set up an online process to collect information about Americans in Yemen trying to get out. You can find Ann Hironaka’s book on intervention in civil wars, which Dana mentions in our third segment, here. Check out our new campaign to bring attention to the human side of Yemen, #OurYemen. Read more of our coverage of recent events in Yemen on our blog.

On the first episode of our third season, we explore the origins and expansion of the Houthi movement, also referred to as Ansar Allah, and we look at how the movement has adjusted to its new-found power, following the fall of Yemen’s government. Get ready for 20 years of Houthi history in 48 minutes! This episode features clips from Mafraj Radio episode 1, which featured interviews with Adam Baron and Madeleine Wells Goldburt, and episode 13, which featured Peter Salisbury and Hussain Albukhaiti. This episode also features new interviews with Albokhaiti and Baraa Shiban. For more coverage of Ansar Allah’s coup and the events that have followed, check out the Mafraj blog. Hussain al-Bukhaiti’s op-ed, which we reference in the last segment of the show, can be found here. Read recent reports on violence against anti-Houthi protesters by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

On this episode we speak with Sir Alan Duncan, the British government’s Special Envoy to Yemen, about UK foreign policy and his thoughts on Yemen’s precarious transition. We also talk to Jennifer Gibson, a staff attorney for the London-based NGO Reprieve. Her recently-published report reveals damning details about the American targeted killing program. Sir Alan Duncan is the United Kingdom’s Special Envoy to Yemen and Special Envoy to Oman. He has served as a Member of Parliament since 1992. Jennifer Gibson is a staff attorney at the NGO Reprieve, where she leads the organization’s program on issues related to US drone strikes in Pakistan. She tweets at @jennifermgibson. You can read more about Jennifer’s report on multiple kills here. Gregory Johnsen’s piece on a December 2013 strike, which killed 12 members of a Yemeni wedding party, is here. I close this episode with a brief segment on the tragic death of American photojournalist Luke Somers. The segment is a condensed version of a recent blog post.

On this episode, we speak with journalist Laura Kasinof about her forthcoming memoir, which details her experiences covering Yemen’s 2011 revolution for the New York Times. We also meet Rawan al-Halali and Jenna Zabarah, two young Yemeni-Americans who are working to make a difference in Yemen and beyond through their new organization, Lift Up Mankind. Photos from Lift Up Mankind’s first project in Yemen, by Jenna Zabarah: (click on a photo to enlarge) Laura Kasinof began filing stories from Yemen as a freelance reporter in 2009. During 2011 she covered Yemen’s popular uprising for the New York Times and other publications. She was also part of our panel of foreign journalists on episode 4 of the podcast. She tweets at @kasinof. Laura’s memoir, Don’t Be Afraid of the Bullets: An Accidental War Correspondent in Yemen, is available in stores on November 11. You can pre-order the book from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Laura says that anyone in Yemen who wants a copy of the book can contact her; send us an email and we’ll pass it along. Rawan al-Halali is the founder of Lift Up Mankind, and a student at George Mason University. Jenna Zabarah is a recent graduate of George Mason University, and a founding member of Lift Up Mankind. She is also a photographer; her work was featured in our 2014 International Yemeni Film & Arts Festival. She tweets at @notaphotographr. You can see more of her photos on her blog.

On this episode we take an in-depth look at the Huthi movement, which is waging a campaign of expansion in Yemen’s north and mounting mass protests against the government in San‘a. We speak with pro-Huthi activist Alhossain Albokhaiti, who has participated in the protests in the capital, and with journalist Peter Salisbury, who has written about Yemen and the Huthi movement for Al Jazeera, Vice, and other publications.   We went into greater detail on the origins of the Huthi movement on the first episode of Mafraj Radio, which is worth revisiting. For more information on the current crisis, check out these articles: “What Do the Protesting Houthis Really Want in Yemen?” “Yemen’s President Faces Political Stalemate” “Protests in Yemen Expose Weak Governance and Poor Economic Planning” “Human Rights Watch: Lethal Force Against Houthi Protesters” The UN Security Council’s committee for the implementation of Resolution 2140 issued a press release today describing the interim report of its “expert panel,” which was established to determine which individuals and parties in Yemen should face sanctions for interfering with the transition process. The report suggests that the Huthi leadership is at the top of the list.

On this episode we speak with American freelance journalist Gaar Adams about protecting Yemen’s environment and wildlife, and to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Jack Serle about reporting on drone strikes and casualties. Our interview with Gaar Adams focuses on the work of the Foundation for Endangered Wildlife (formerly the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen), which has been working to protect the Arabian Leopard and other wildlife in Yemen for several years. Al Jazeera produced an excellent documentary featuring FEW in 2012. Gaar is writing a series of articles on FEW’s work for Beacon, the online publishing platform we’ve mentioned before. The first and second installments of his series are available at Beacon now. Follow Gaar on Twitter for links to his latest work. Jack Serle has worked as a reporter for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism since 2012. He and his colleagues were awarded the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2013 for their work on drones and America’s covert war. The group provide up-to-date data on US strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia, including as much information as is available on the casualties of those strikes. Jack mentions two excellent books on US covert actions, Jeremy Scahill’s Dirty Wars (which is also an Oscar-nominated film), and Mark Mazzetti’s The Way of the Knife. He also mentions some excellent reporting done by Iona Craig, who exposed the role of Saudi Arabia in the air campaign in Yemen. One of the best pieces of recent journalism on this subject is Gregory Johnsen’s latest piece for Buzzfeed. Editor’s note: The interviews featured on this episode are great, and Gaar and Jack are both outstanding journalists. That said, this isn’t quite the episode I’d hoped to put out. We work hard at the YPP to make sure that Yemeni voices–and a diverse range of Yemeni voices–are heard and promoted. I don’t like putting out episodes that only feature non-Yemeni speakers, or that only feature male voices. Unfortunately sometimes I can’t get the interviews I want, when I want them. Often this is due to the technological and logistical hurdles involved in recording interviews from Yemen, and sometimes it’s just a matter of schedules not coming together. This time it was a bit of both. Rest assured, we have some great interviews lined up for upcoming episodes with a bit more diversity than is featured here. And none of that should detract from the fact that this is a great episode, too. Enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts on our Facebook page.