The Economist - USA (2019-08-17)

The EconomistAugust 17th 2019 Middle East & Africa 35

2 been killed. Hunger and cholera stalk the
living. As if Yemen were not miserable
enough, the war is growing more chaotic,
making a lasting peace harder to imagine.
The coalition assembled by Saudi Ara-
bia and its main international partner, the
United Arab Emirates (uae), was never very
coherent. It is a patchwork of local armed
groups, all with their own, often compet-
ing, agendas. In Taiz alone, which has been
besieged by the Houthis since 2015, more
than 20 groups have fought for the co-
alition. Loyalty is fickle, with fighters
drawn to whichever side pays more. Most
coalition members readily admit that they
dislike the government, which is corrupt
and ineffective. They snigger at the fact

that the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour

Hadi, has still not returned from his gilded

exile in Riyadh.

One of the coalition’s most dangerous

fault-lines runs between the normally

northern-based government and southern

separatists. Their dispute dates back de-

cades. South Yemen, then a separate coun-

try, fought two wars with the north in the

1970s. Unification in 1990 did not heal old

wounds. Fighting erupted again in 1994,

with the north coming out on top. Since

then many in the south, which is less tri-

bal, have viewed the government with sus-

picion. “It has prevented the south from

developing, fearing it will secede,” says Sa-

leh Alnoud of the Southern Transitional

Council (stc), which speaks for many of the

separatists. They are also divided.

Tensions between the government and

the stcflared last year, but the latest fight-

ing looks more serious. It began on August

7th with a funeral procession for dozens of

southern soldiers killed in a Houthi mis-

sile strike the week before. As the mourn-

ers passed the presidential palace, chant-

ing anti-government slogans, bullets were

exchanged with the presidential guards.

The violence quickly escalated and, three

days later, forces aligned with the stchad

taken the palace and several military bar-

racks. Pressure from the Saudis might lead

to a face-saving deal that allows the govern-

ment to return in some form, but the stc

will probably remain in control.

Publicly, at least, the leaders of Saudi

Arabia and the uaeare speaking with one

voice about the situation. But their call for

talks belies tension in their own relation-

ship. The uaehas focused on southern Ye-

men, where it has backed groups such as

the stcin an effort to rout jihadists and Is-

lamists. Some accuse it of creating a paral-

lel state—on his way out of Aden, the inte-

rior minister blamed the uae for the

fighting. The Saudis, meanwhile, have fo-

cused on the north and restoring the gov-

ernment. They have worked with Islah, Ye-

men’s main Islamist group and a part of the

administration, as well as others whom the

uaefinds unsavoury.

Whereas the Saudis have stuck mostly

to the air, the uaehas led the charge on the

ground and can claim most of the credit for

what progress has been made against the

Houthis. But with no end in sight, and as

fear of conflict with Iran grows, the uaeis

abandoning the war. Big new offensives by

the coalition therefore seem unlikely. Sau-

di Arabia has the support of America’s pres-

ident, Donald Trump, who has resisted

congressional efforts to press the kingdom

to end the war. Still, the prospect of a co-

alition victory is growing dimmer. And an

old question has returned: can Yemen ever

be stitched back together? 7

SAUDI ARABIA

DJIBOUTI

ERITREA

Sana’a

Aden

Taiz

Hodeida

Saada

Red

Sea

Gulfof Aden

Former north-

south Yemen

border

YEMEN

150 km

Areas of control, August 2019

Source: Risk Intelligence

Coalition led by

Saudi Arabia/UAE

Houthi

F

rantzfanon, a greattheoristof

colonialism, wrote that “every colo-

nised people...finds itself face to face

with the language of the civilising na-

tion.” This confrontation can persist

years after independence. Just ask Mo-

rocco. Some in the former French colony

are up in arms over a law reintroducing

French as a language of instruction in

schools. It is a return “to the language of

the coloniser”, said Abdelilah Benkirane,

a former prime minister.

Most of the law in question, passed on

August 2nd, is uncontroversial. It aims to

reform Morocco’s dysfunctional educa-

tion system. But article two allows for the

teaching of science, maths and technical

subjects in French (and other languages).

Whereas most Moroccans speak Darija

(or Moroccan Arabic), French is the

language of business, government and

higher education. The measure aims to

equipstudentsforthisreality.

The controversy is more about poli-

tics than pedagogy. Morocco’s two offi-

cial languages are modern standard

Arabic (msa) and Tamazight (the Berber

tongue). Many feel that only msais suit-

able for teaching. Even the inclusion of a

few words of Darija in a textbook last year

caused an uproar. Members of the Islam-

ist Justice and Development Party, such

as Mr Benkirane, now fear the “Frenchifi-

cation” of education.

Plenty of Moroccans, though, see

merit in the law. In 2016 King Moham-

med VIblessed the idea of teaching in

French. Around half of university stu-

dents fail to complete their studies, in

part because of trouble with the lan-

guage. The risk is that the new measure

will be implemented poorly, frustrating

pupils. As it is, only 53% of middle-

school pupils continue to high school.

Saïd Amzazi, the minister of educa-

tion, says he wants schools to produce

“citizens of the world”. In that case,

though, he might be better off holding

classes in English or Chinese, which are

more prominent in academia and the

global economy. Next-door Algeria has

ordered its universities to teach in Eng-

lish rather than French.

Over 60 years after independence,

Morocco is still working out its relation-

ship with France. The two countries

maintain close economic ties and the

current government in Rabat is particu-

larly Francophile. In a speech on Bastille

Day, Saad Eddine El Othmani, the prime

minister, waxed lyrical about the coun-

tries’ “exceptional relationship”. The

anger provoked by article two shows that

this view is far from universal.

Quel est le problème?

Education in Morocco

A row over teaching in French has reopened old wounds in Morocco