Dear Doha Diary

So here's the thing……. President Hadi flees to Saudi Arabia following a coup by the Houthis in Yemen.  But did he in fact allow this coup to take place because he wasn't in control of Yemen at all?  Was Yemen being run in the background by the ousted former President Saleh, who was kicked out in 2011 following arab-spring style demonstrations? An Al Jazeera documentary, The Road to Sanaa, has shed light on what led up to the apparent 'soft coup' in September 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa without any real opposition from the Government.  I remember at the time being mystified by this turn of events.  What kind of Government simply opens the gate like that unless there is something more sinister going on behind the scenes? The Al Jazeera investigation centres around the fight for Amran, a city north of the capital and a key gateway to Sanaa for the Saada based Houthis.  Lead by General Al Qushaibi, the Yemeni Army brigade sent in t...

When I first came to Qatar, one of the things I missed the most was cycling.  I'd been a committed commuter cyclist in London, loving the daily weave and dodge through the London traffic, literally going into battle with taxis, buses and delivery drivers, all vying for position at traffic lights, cutting the corners of junctions, driving and parking in cycle lanes and trying desperately to prove their wheels are faster than yours…….. until they're stuck in an endless jam along High Holborn and I go sailing past, victorious and not to mention just a little self righteous ;-) I got to the point that I would cycle every day no matter what the weather -rain, snow, ice…. bring it on.   I loved it.  Loved the challenge, loved the adrenalin, loved the change in my body - id never been so fit, never felt so energetic.  It was fabulous…… and then I moved to Qatar. Doha is a relatively small, flat city, compared to London of course, and the roads are good and w...

The war in Yemen has raged now for 6 weeks and is only intensifying in ferocity, but given the lack of time given to the story by the English speaking media (with the exception of Al Jazeera), the narrative has slipped into describing the division along sectarian lines - Shia (Iran/Ex-President Saleh/Houthis), vs Sunni (Saudi Arabic/President Hadi & rest of Yemen) - with the main story focusing on Saudi Arabia and Iran - the proxy war which could explode into a regional conflict, perhaps drawing Russia and USA in on opposing sides. It is of course a lot more complicated than that and many of the guys fighting on the ground aren't the least bit interested in the bigger picture.  And when the press keep repeating that those fighting in Aden are forces allied to President Hadi, this also isn't wholly true.   Most of the guys who are opposing the Houthis are not soldiers.  80% of the Yemeni army is apparently not involved.  Yemen's armed forces were allied to t...

Now Yemenis are used to instability, unrest, continuous crises and generally life being a struggle.  But recent events in that crazy beautiful country signal an escalation in the battle for power with many fearing the onset of a fully blown civil war. Its clear that the situation in Yemen is incredibly complex, not least because of the number of different conflicting interests at play at so many levels…. Regionally, you have the influence of both Saudi Arabia and Iran with sectarian differences, Saudi Arabia concerned that Iran are expanding their Shia brand of Islam across the Middle East into Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and now Yemen with the Shia Houthis in control of much of the country now. Nationally you have an existing President Hadi (on the left) who has seemingly failed to inspire hope in the Yemeni people vs a former President Saleh (on the right) ousted from power in 2012 following a popular uprising inspired by the A...