Mafraj Radio

On Thursday, March 30, the YPP and the Arab Center for the Promotion of Human Rights hosted an event at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, to discuss the war in Yemen and the role of the United States in the conflict. Events like this are not officially sponsored by members of the US Senate, but are often referred to as "Senate briefings" because they are held primarily for the benefit of Senate staffers. The event was attended by congressional staff, representatives from NGOs, and members of the public. The discussion was moderated by YPP executive director Will Picard, and featured two guest speakers: Radhya Almutawakel is the president of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, an independent Yemeni organization working to defend and protect human rights in Yemen. Mwatana works on war crimes, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearance, and freedom of press throughout Yemen. Sama’a Al-Hamdani is the founder of Yemeniaty, an independent organization working to promote better relations and understanding between Yemenis, policymakers, and relevant stakeholders in the United States. Al-Hamdani is an independent Yemeni writer, researcher and analyst focusing on Yemeni politics and women affairs. She is also currently a fellow with the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies. Below is an undedited audio recording of the entire event. Please forgive the poor sound quality; we're working on a better version, and will update this post when possible.

Welcome to the long-awaited fourth season of Mafraj Radio, the official podcast of the Yemen Peace Project. I’m Will Picard. On this episode we’ll discuss America’s role in Yemen’s civil war, and the Trump administration’s efforts to block citizens of Yemen and five other nations from entering the United States. And we’ll meet one of the many Yemeni immigrants who call America home. Read Katherine Zimmerman's recent article on the Critical Threats website. Find some of the resources for lawyers mentioned by Sara Elizabeth Dill below: The Dulles Justice Coalition Immigration Justice

We’ve asked contributors in Yemen to record audio journal entries for us, conveying their own personal experience of Yemen’s ongoing war. Our first two installment featured recordings by an anonymous civil servant living in San’a. That same contributor offers the following reflections on how Yemen’s war has pushed millions of Yemenis into deep poverty, and even starvation. podcast@yemenpeaceproject.org.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Taiz, where pro-Houthi forces are maintaining an illegal siege, making life almost impossible for local civilians.

On this episode we revisit some of the most important interviews we've broadcast since the beginning of Yemen's internationalized armed conflict in March of this year.

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.

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.

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.

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 repulse 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.

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 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.

On this episode, we speak with journalist Laura Kasinof about her forthcoming memoir, and meet two Yemeni Americans who are working to make a difference in Yemen and beyond.

On this episode we look at the Huthi movement, which is waging a campaign of expansion in northern Yemen, and calling for the fall of the government in San'a.

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 Searle about reporting on drone strikes and casualties.

On this episode we learn about the National Organization for Drone Victims, a new network seeking to give voice to the suffering of Yemenis affected by air strikes. We also learn about a program helping Yemeni-American youth in New York express themselves.  Since 2002, the US military and CIA have been responsible for a huge number of air strikes inside Yemen, targeting members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At least 15% of those killed in the strikes have been civilians. Because the US targeted killing program is operated in secret, researchers have struggled to compile accurate statistics on the strikes (we’ll talk more about this in our next episode). Two organizations that try to track strikes and casualties are the Bureau for Investigative Journalism and the Long War Journal. The Arab American Family Support Center, in Brooklyn, New York, provides a wide range of services to immigrant communities in Brooklyn. Visit their website here. Photos from the public screening of youth-made videos from the Center’s “I need to be heard” program can be found here.