"They may be al-Qaida members, but they are also fathers and sons, brothers and cousins, tribesmen and clansmen with friends and relatives.
He was rather too eager to shoot on sight than appease the tribesmen, killing seven and drawing mild admonishment from the colonial authorities.
Yemeni officials say Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally, was sending arms and funds to tribesmen in Yemen's Marib province to bolster them against the rebels.
Many, like Kanabygal, were victims of frontier violence between tribesmen – defending traditional lands on the pastoral frontier – and colonial troops, paramilitary police forces, settler militia and raiding parties.
It is here that Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan made landfall in 1520, encountering the tall Tehuelche tribesmen whom he called Patagones, after a mythical character in a chivalric tale, leading to the region's name.
Anbar province, in which Ramadi sits, is "contested", and Austin mused about the "help of the tribes" there, recalling the 2006-2008 enlistment of Sunni tribesmen and ex-insurgents that retains a central role in the US military's understanding of why its greatest period of tactical success in Iraq was possible.
Iraqi forces, which include the military, police, Shiite militias and Sunni tribesmen, entered the city of Tikrit for the first time Thursday, gaining control of neighborhoods on its northern and southern ends.
Most who die violent deaths in their societies do so at the hands of fellow tribesmen, not "foreigners".
A ceasefire brokered by the governments of neighbouring countries on December 31st in Ethiopia has yet to be given a starting date.Adding to fears of further mayhem, the "white army", so called because its Lou Nuer tribesmen daub themselves in white ash, is also on the march.
What is certain is that the latest batch of refugees must be added to the 150,000 civilians already uprooted during five previous rounds of the conflict, which started in 2004.The clashes pit regular government troops, backed by lighter-armed tribal allies, against tribesmen loyal to the Houthi family, a powerful northern clan.
And there are ominous reports that the Sudanese government, in what would be ethnic cleansing, is inviting Arab tribesmen from Niger and Chad to occupy the lands vacated by the refugees.If they have any sense, that should make the rebels put their differences aside.
