Yemen's Tribal Troubles

The past six days of heavy fighting in Yemen's capital between forces loyal to the president and armed tribesmen led by the country's most influential sheikh are spreading legitimate fears of an impending civil war. With the writ of the Yemeni state eroding, the president's opponents are falling back on "urf," or tribal law, which the state has traditionally used to govern the country, in order to find a way out of the political crisis. But the power of urf is not what it used to be in Yemen, and the growing reliance on a weakened tribal code in a state under siege could further divide the country.