Hashem Ahelbarra

Hashem Ahelbarra's picture
Hashem Ahelbarra
Roving Correspondent | Qatar
Biography

Hashem Ahelbarra is a roving Middle East correspondent for Al Jazeera English. He regularly reports from Afghanistan, Yemen and across the Gulf region.

Hashem has covered many of the biggest international news stories in recent years and secured exclusive interviews with many of the major names in world news, including late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Latest posts by Hashem Ahelbarra

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Africa on January 14th, 2011
Photo by AFP

Those who watched President Ben Ali delivering his most recent speech noticed a man with a trembling voice saying the opposite of what he stood for.

He said that he was sorry, that he's been duped by his entourage, that now he got the message and that he will leave power in 2014.

Was he genuine or just buying time.? He is definitely in damage control mode, and while we don't know for sure what his next move will be, it's pretty much obvious that the glass ceiling of fear has been for ever shattered in Tunisia and that the police state that Ben Ali created in 1987 when he came to power in a coup seems to be disintegrating.

It all started about a month ago when a public suicide of a frustrated, disillusioned Tunisian grew into widespread anger. Days later the ink-spot has been ever growing in an unprecedented scope and magnitude.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Africa on October 9th, 2010
Photo from AFP

Even when they meet to make big decisions about the future of their institution, the Arab League - and Arab leaders - are more divided than ever.

Reporters covering an Arab summit in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte are getting a glimpse of the fractious nature of the League.

Three main topics are on the agenda: the future of direct talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis, reform of the Arab League and extending an offer to Iran and Turkey to take part in future gatherings of Arab leaders.

But on these three main issues, differences are quite obvious. The follow-up committee struggled for two days to craft a statement backing president Abbas’s decision to abandon direct talks with the right wing government of Binyamin Netanyahu. What came of it was a statement vague in its wording, and offering different "alternatives" to the Arabs - if the impasse persists.

Divided on talks

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Middle East on October 7th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis have once again shipwrecked on an ocean of semantic squabbling.

Relaunched in September, the talks have tested a core premise of the American diplomatic effort in the Middle East: bringing the two sides to sit down and hammer out a comprehensive peace deal that would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.

After three rounds of direct talks in Washington, DC, the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem, negotiations collapsed when Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, refused to extend a moratorium on illegal settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Palestinians and the Israelis haven't had a chance to tackle core issues: the borders of the future state, security, the refugees, Jerusalem and the settlements.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Middle East on February 11th, 2010
Photo by AFP

A deal between Yemen and the country's Houthi fighters is in the offing, according to senior officials here in the capital Sanaa.

Major obstacles have been overcome, and an envoy is now meeting with Abdel Malik, the rebellion leader, to put the final touches on the agreement.

What happens next?

As soon as the deal is announced, a ceasefire will come into effect and the tough work will start. The Houthis should open main roads and checkpoints, abandon mountains they have occupied for months, return weapons captured from the army and free Saudi and Yemeni soldiers.

In exchange, the government will allow internally displaced people (IDPs) to return home and rebuild destroyed areas and villages.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Asia on January 7th, 2010

Afghanistan's presidential palace is one of the world's most highly guarded buildings. No surprise, its occupant is the man the world relies on to pacify and defeat the Taliban.

He was targeted many times and miraculously escaped two assassination attempts in Kandahar and Kabul. His security staff is alert all the time.

No pens or watches are allowed, and you have no right to complain, they are thin-skinned when it comes to remarks, they say they are taking no chances.

We received a call from Karzai's people saying the interview with the president was scheduled for 5pm. We went there three hours in advance.

Tags: Taliban
By Hashem Ahelbarra in Asia on January 3rd, 2010
Photo by Reuters

President Karzai has suffered a public humiliation when 70% of his cabinet choices were ruled out by the parliament.

The rejection comes at a very crucial time for the country. The Taliban are gaining more ground, conducting daring attacks, like the suicide bomb attack at a CIA base in Khost province. Seven CIA operatives were killed.

The country is marred by instability, and a growing public mistrust of Nato forces, especially after the string of deadly attacks against civilians.

Eager to limit the impact of the damage made by the vote, Karzai’s dispatched his spokesperson Waheed Omar to reassure the Afghan people that things are still under control. He told the media that while the president was “surprised by the rejections”, he respects the process which he qualifies as “the beauty of democracy”.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Asia on December 20th, 2009
AFP PHOTO/HO/PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

Achieving stability, undermining the Taliban and restoring public credibility to the Afghan government is going to be America’s toughest challenge in the war-torn country.

The new cabinet of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, falls short of the huge expectations of the West and the Afghan people. They were expecting a major change, a strong signal that business will be conducted in a radically different way. But that is unlikely to happen today.

Karzai’s recent picks for the much anticipated cabinet was less than meets the eye for many. The prominent ministers of interior, defence and the head of national intelligence will all remain in office if approved by the parliament. Eleven new candidates join the cabinet, most of them affiliated with the country’s feared warlords who have dominated politics in the country for decades.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Middle East on November 16th, 2009
Photo by Getty Images

The war in Saada is perhaps the most misunderstood conflict in the world. And the reason is the very complex tribal, religious and political make up of Yemen.

For centuries, Yemen had been shattered into a mosaic of kingdoms or sultanates - a Shia Zaidi Imamate in the north and Sunni Sultanates in the south. That order was upset in 1962, in a coup that put an end to the rule of Hamid Eddine, a Hashemite family that had ruled Northern Yemen since 1918.

In 1967, a radical Marxist movement created a Soviet-inspired state in the south. In 1990, the north and south united under Ali Abdallah Salih, a Shia Zaidi who has been ruling Yemen since 1978.

The Houthi rebellion started in 2004 when a member of a Hashemite family - the Houthis - took up arms against the government seeking more religious and cultural freedoms.

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Middle East on November 14th, 2009
Photo by Reuters

Driving to northern Yemen is never boring, the car keeps snaking through the new road carved out of a mountainous area that links Sanaa with Amran, Haja and Saada. Yemen is a beautiful country with its villages built on top of hills and mountain ridges, where tribes are still attached to old customs and traditions.

The whole of these mountains are inhabited by Zaidis, an offshoot of Shia Islam. They are a minority in Yemen but they have successfully managed to subdue the Sunni majority over many decades.

The journey takes up to six hours but is often delayed by long intervals at the many checkpoint manned by the army to make sure only those with permit can go.

Since the start of a conflict that pits the army against a Shia rebellion, the area  has been sealed off and international media denied access.