AP: Jemen: Wie aus Elend Prestige entsteht

Yemeni blacksmiths beat missiles into daggers - not ploughshares

SHOTLIST:

ASSOCIATED PRES - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Hajjah province - 6 October 2018

1. Dagger held by a Yemeni blacksmith made from missile fragment fired by Saudi-led coalition at Houthi positions

2. Man wearing dagger, part of Yemeni traditional attire

3. Various of shrapnel from missiles collected by Yemeni artisans being prepared to be beaten into daggers

ASSOCIATED PRES - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Sanaa - 13 May 2018

4. Various of airstrike by Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels, explosion

ASSOCIATED PRES - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Saada - 22 July 2018

5. Varios of explosion caused by airstrike in the Houthi-heartland of Saada by the Saudi-led coalition, people carrying away dead bodies

ASSOCIATED PRES - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Hajjah province - 21 August 2018

6. Wide of village of blacksmith Ali Ghomari

7. Workshop of Ghomari's family

8. Blacksmith examining a piece of shrapnel

9. Various of blacksmith turning missile fragment over fire before beating it into dagger

10. Various of artisan beating fragment with hammer

11. Artisan Mohammed Ali Ghomari walking into his hut and workshop in the northern city of Abs, Hajjah province

12. Various of Ghomari sitting in front of fire, preparing to turn steel of missile fragments into daggers

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Ali Ghomari, artisan who makes daggers out of missile fragments:

«Because of the increasing prices of steel, sometimes we have air strikes by jets, we go and collect some of the fragments and turn them into knives, or the so-called white weapon, and sell them in the market.»

14. Various of blacksmiths beating steel into knives or daggers

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Mansour, resident:

«In the past, the material used in making these was sold in the market with cheap prices but now they are recycling the remnants of war from the airstrikes. They take from the explosions, from the missiles, they take the shrapnel then beat them on fire, until they become soft and they get recycled and takes the shape of a sharp tool, the so-called white weapon.»

16. Various of vendors in Abs market with different kinds of knives, shovels, and daggers

17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hassan Ghomari, Yemeni blacksmith:

«This craft was inherited from the fathers and the grandfathers who were practicing it from the old times; it's a craft that we are honoured about; we practice it every day and there are seasons during Arafa or the days of the sacrifices.»

18. Market with sellers displaying newly-made knives

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hassan Ghomari, Yemeni blacksmith:

«As a result of the strike or the missiles which land next to us, we then pick parts of remains of these shrapnel and beat them on the fire and make knives and we make daggers and the white weapon.»

20. Dagger carried by a Yemeni in the market in Hajjah

STORYLINE:

Yemeni blacksmiths are turning missile fragments into traditional daggers, partly due to the high cost of imported steel.

Sometimes, the raw material of Ali Ghomari's work comes screaming from the sky as missiles fired by Saudi-led coalition jets rain down on militia and civilians alike, killing and maiming thousands.

Children, farmers and others collect shrapnel from their farmlands, from dirt alleys in impoverished neighbourhoods, and offer it for sale to Ghomari and other artisans.

From missiles they make knives - jambiyya - the ornamental daggers Yemeni men wear for prestige and as a show of courage.

Once, they were made of imported steel, but high prices have forced craftsmen to use the refuse of war.

One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fragment steel costs about 500 rials (less than 1 US dollar), half the price of Turkish steel.

Ghomari said he learned his craft from his father, who inherited the skill from his ancestors.

The entire Ghomari family of seven households work as blacksmiths in the northern city of Abs.

Ghomari said knives were once a profitable business, however the market has weakened as the war-ravaged economy has tanked, and fewer men have extra money to pay for jambiyya.

The daggers have curved sword-like hooks and are a part of traditional Yemeni attire - slipped into a decorated sheath and tucked in vertically at the center of ornate belts if men are wearing robes, or placed in the top of a maawaz, a wrap-around male skirt.

The blade is made of steel and the stronger the steel the more expensive the dagger.

The shape of the hilt often refers to the city, region or tribe of the person carrying it, and the price also depends on whether the hilt is made of wood, buffalo horn or rhinoceros horn.

The more expensive the dagger, the more elevated the status of the man who wears it.

Prices for new daggers range from 10 to 10,000 US dollars.

Old ones inherited from ancestors might be worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

The war between Yemen's government and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels has been going on for nearly four years.

The Saudi-led coalition of Sunni countries supported by the United States joined the fray in March 2015, launching a relentless air campaign with an arsenal made up mostly of US-made missiles and other weaponry, providing plenty of metal for Ghomari and his family.

This is nothing new - during Yemen's 1962-1970 civil war, Egypt and Saudi Arabia backed opposite sides.

Ghomari's father used Egyptian tank treads, artillery shells and rockets to make knives.

Today, Ghomari points to the anvil on which he beats missiles into daggers.

It is an empty mortar shell from the 1960's.