Process of withdrawing troops and armed tribesmen started for enhancing peace and normalizing life in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee Sand bags and soil barriers were removed and armed tribesmen and troops and armored vehicles were withdrawn from some of the streets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in an implementation of a plan to enhance on going peace process and the political solution of the one-year long political crisis. The sand bags and soil barriers in Aser traffic circle in the 60 ring road were removed before noon Saturday and the process is continuing to clean the capital from all military and weapons manifestations. Earlier, the Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011. In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said : The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses. The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011. The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence. Big support for Yemen's political and peace process The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to offer all urgent needs to the recently established government of Yemen under the leadership of the opposition. The Saudi foreign minister called earlier this week the vice president,Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and the prime minister Mohammed Basundwa and told them that the Saudi king had ordered the assistance to Yemen. The international community appears to be very determined to help the 35-member government which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party. The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity. The prime minster, Mohammed Salem Basundwa,who is also the chairman of the "National Council of Revolution" told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the sufferings of the people. The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government. The security situation has become relatively better especially after the new ministers started to operate their ministries. The opposition runs 17 ministries including, the interior ministry, the information ministry, and the finance ministry. The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014. This week, Bin Omar, visited the three most troubled provinces, Taiz,( south of the north), Aden, capital of the south, and Saada (north of the north). He met all different parties in the three cities. The ambassadors of the five permanent countries in the UN Council, as well as the ambassadors of the six gulf countries and EU ambassador, are also visiting these cities where tension is higher than other places in the whole country. In Taiz,troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting. In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al Houthi Shiite rebels still want to have their own government and refuse the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented. Observers say if the government would be helped to fix the economic problems then it will be successful in the other areas. "the essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that Yemeni economy is collapsed, it is not collapsed but it had only some stagnancy," said Dr, Mohammed Al Sabri, an expert in Yemeni economy. "the Yemeni economy can rise again with the minimum cost," said Dr Al Sabri who was involved in the economic reforms before the political crisis erupted in Yemen earlier this year. According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on February 21, 2012, early elections will be held and new president will be elected instead of president Saleh who signed the GCC on November 23 in the Saudi capital Riyadh. After leaving the power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party as he repeatedly said. To appease the protesters who still in the streets, the new minister of interior, Abdul Qader Qahtan, ordered the release of detainees on political background especially those detained during the crisis. The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home as a step of removing the factors of tension in the streets. The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets. Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday. The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places. The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months. "We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources. On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held. Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior. The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests. Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists. Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009. The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government. The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah. The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.

UN envoy to Yemen: political situation is progressing positively

By Mohammed al-Kibsi The envoy of the United Nations to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar affirmed that the political situation in Yemen is developing and is progressing positively. Bin Omar told Saba news agency prior to his departure from Sana’a on Saturday that there is some positive progress at the political situation in Yemen after singing the GCC deal and its executive mechanism and forming the national unity government adding that there is already a fixed time for the early presidential elections and that a military committee was assigned and that this military committee started making decision for lifting arms and militants from the streets. He added that the international community has been following up the situations on the ground adding that he is to present his report to the Security Council that will held its session over Yemen issue on the 21 of December. “The UN Security Council is closely watching the political transition in Yemen and wants to see Yemen whose streets are owned by the people and not the military units or the militias,” he told Saba news agency. He also warned groups against attempts to stop the transition process. Meanwhile military forces started leaving the streets of the capital, Sana’a, on Saturday in line with the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered agreement for the transfer of power, an army official said. Bulldozers removed sand bags and trenches from streets and checkpoints set up since defected army deployed troops onto the streets along with its allies from the Islamic militias and the tribal militias affiliated to Sheikh al-Ahmar sons under the pretence of protecting the protesters that revolted against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government. A panel led by interim leader and vice president, Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, called for all troops and military vehicles to return to their barracks and for militiamen to leave public and private buildings. President Saleh agreed last month to relinquish power amid anti-government protests and a unity government was formed on Dec. 7 from both Saleh’s and opposition parties. Members of militia must return to their villages by Dec. 24 and a presidential election is scheduled for Feb. 21. Hours before the start of the pullout, blasts and gunfire were heard in the north of Sana’a, where sporadic clashes have erupted between forces loyal to Saleh and tribal fighters affiliated to sheikh al-Ahmar. In terms of the deal signed by president Saleh in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, on Nov. 23, a 14-member military committee headed by Hadi will oversee the restructuring of the armed forces after the election.

Making peace in Yemen

By Abubakr Al-Shamahi In the presidential palace in Sana’a, a new Yemeni cabinet has just been sworn in. For the first time in 33 years, however, President Ali Abdullah Saleh is nowhere to be seen. He has officially signed away his powers, setting up a potentially peaceful transfer of power to his deputy, Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Indeed, it was Hadi who was present at the swearing in ceremony, exercising the ceremonial powers of a president. The new Yemeni government is a government of national unity, split evenly between members of Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) and members of the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), as well as independent opposition figures. The new government will face great difficulties in establishing itself, mainly because rival military factions still hold great sway in the country. However, it must be backed, as national unity is the only hope that the country has of avoiding a disastrous civil war. In the past few months, there has been a very real fear that these clashes might be the start of a new civil war in Yemen, only 17 years after the conclusion of the previous one. The North-South split that caused the civil war in 1994 is rearing its ugly head again, with the Southern separatist movement taking advantage of dwindling government control to bolster its presence on the streets. In this difficult and unstable period, the country needs a government that represents everyone. The country needs change, but the revolutionary movement must also acknowledge that President Saleh has his supporters — and that they cannot be ignored if there is to be any hope of a peaceful future. Post-2003 Iraq is a prime example of what happens when all those associated with the former ruling regime are shunned. It is also important that Southerners have their grievances addressed. Their land and resources have been controlled too long by members of the Northern elite. The naming of Southerners in leading positions, including Vice President Hadi, Prime Minister Mohammed Basindwa and others is a positive first step in attempting to show that the perceived Northern domination of the South is over. The youth movement contains some of Yemen’s brightest minds. Convincing them to stay in the country and take part in the political process will be a major coup for the incoming government. Therefore, the new government must ensure transparency and show that one of the main blights on Yemen — the endemic high-level corruption — can be fought. Yemenis need to move away from thoughts of revenge and instead focus on the country’s unity and work on issues like corruption, poverty and the water crisis. If a new government focuses on these issues then Yemen could be well on the way to achieving the results that the Yemeni people have been calling for in protests the past 11 months. Abubakr al-Shamahi is a British-Yemeni freelance journalist, and is the editor of CommentMidEast.com, a platform for young people to write about the region

Patronage system the root cause of corruption in Yemen

Although debilitating to the economy, corruption and its impact on the country rarely takes center stage or attracts serious discourse. Yemen ranked 131st out of 179 countries and territories on Transparency International's corruption perception index (2007). However, the corruption index provides a snap shot at a given moment but does not explain how corruption has thrived inexorably during the last three or four decades in Yemen. This article intends to shed light on this issue. Prior to the revolution of 1962, corruption was minimal due to the simplicity of life and relative class rigidity. Government officials were drawn from an elite class who worked mostly in the judiciary, customs and taxation offices. Corruption was confined to those areas and was practiced in total secrecy. The political system was based on a monarchy and therefore enjoyed, at least for some time, some form of legitimacy. Following the 1962 revolution and ensuing struggle to protect it, corruption remained low within the government but the civil war necessitated the support of powerful tribes, a step that inevitably lead to the emergence of a formal tribal patronage that took the form of government monthly payoffs to tribal sheikhs as a means to appease them, or to buy their allegiance. These payoffs were referred to as "mizaniyya” or "Budget". The Mizaniyya sum depended on the primacy of the tribe and value of the services provided by the sheikh. MIzaniyya become even more of a necessity when Anti revolutionary forces began paying their supporters and mercenaries in British gold sovereigns. Tribal leaders savored the lucrative business and began to offer their services to the side that paid most. Some tribal leaders changed sides several times in pursue of better deals. The government apparatus at the time was minimally affected but by the time the revolution prevailed in 1968 tribal leaders had become deeply involved in the government political and military structure. The political instability of the Seventies and the repeated assassination of Yemeni presidents (Ibrahim al-hamdi, Salem Rubia Ali and Ahmed al-Ghashmi) within a time span of one year underscored the importance of political stability. This perception was further strengthened when President Saleh became a victim of a coup d' etate only three months from assuming power, credit for his survival goes to his relative Ali Mohsin. A combination of family and close tribal connections took charge from thereon of key military positions. Adoption of this strategy did bring stability, but it also created a clique of elites glued together by close interests which began to grow disproportionately to the extent of becoming more of a problem than a solution The period leading to the unification of Yemen, witnessed another form of political corruption represented in wide scale recruitment of politically affiliated personal and militia men in the southern states who were added to the civil service pay roll. This was compounded with mass recruitment of staff who had previously served in small socialist operated enterprises such bakeries and petrol station workers, leading to a hugely overstaffed and underpaid civil service. Following the 1994 civil war, victory of the central government and its tribal allies consolidated the tribe’s hold over state resources. This was particularly apparent by the extensive seizure of government land in Aden and elsewhere. As time progressed the elite secured more and more power and began to infiltrate in all walks of life. Sheikhs and military elites extended their interest to the business, oil and services sectors and began to crowd out traditional businessmen; they used their influence to win contracts and secure business agencies and seize large swathes of land. New business tycoons, who entered into partnership with the elites sprang up and proliferated very quickly. Grand corruption included omission or partial omission of oil sales from national accounts between 1990 and 1994. The difference was consumed in agreement between the partners of the interim government. Other grand corruption took the form of supplementary budgets which reached in some years 800 billion Rials, equivalent to about 3-4 billion dollars. Supplementary budgets were submitted to the parliament for ratification at the end of the year with no real debate over their allocations or disbursement. One other form of systematic corruption that was widely practiced was the differentiated exchange rate of the US Dollar; you could buy a dollar for 4.5 YR or 12.5 Rials , 25 YR or 150 YR. Which exchange rate you get depended on how well connected you are. The system was originally introduced under the noble cause of making hard currency accessible to patients seeking medical treatment abroad or earmarked for importing basic food stuffs to serve as a form of subsidy. Oil derivates cost the government in recent years more than 25% of the general budget. However, much of oil derivates ended up being smuggled and sold to neighboring country at world market price. Outgoing Prime Minister Dr. Ali Mohammed Mujawar once said six or seven individuals swallow much of the subsides, but declined to name them. Petite corruption practiced by civil servants who occupied administrative or bureaucratic positions was tolerated because this group bore the bulk of the government daily grinding. A similar group who had subscribed to the hegemonic political orientation consisting of former executive staff who had grown too old or too bold to hold public office and who have now been reappointed to the Shura council or elected with the help of the ruling party to the parliament were pacified by occasional payoffs, new cars etc. were allowed to operate as intermediaries and middlemen in contract tenders, civil service recruitment from which they made a slice for themselves. Tolerance of corruption and its pervasiveness and insufficiency of public sector salaries encouraged civil servants to explore new areas of corruption such as ghost employment in the educational sector and army, selling of educational certificates and monopoly over scholarships abroad. The average person found him/herself besieged and pushed to the limits with opportunities shrinking before their eyes. The whole situation was no longer economically, or socially viable. It needed a popular uprising to shake the country awake. By Mohammed Humaid Mohammed.humaid@gmail.com

Solution for Yemeni crisis goes on despite difficulties

By Nasser Arrabyee Yemenis are continuing the implementation of an agreed solution to end their one-year long political crisis, despite big obstacles. One of the most important step taken this week was formation a military and security committee that will restore the stability of the country. Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is the chairman of this committee which is made of 14 military and security commanders, 7 from opposition and 7 from the ruling party. The regional and international support for solution was obviously behind the continuation of achieving progress despite the tremendous difficulties. The 34-member opposition-chaired government of national consensus is supposed to start working from the beginning of next week. The opposition, which includes the six main opposition parties, have agreed to take 17 portfolios including the ministry of interior, ministry finance,and ministry of information, which means also half of the most important six ministries. The ruling party, still chaired by the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took the other 17 portfolios including the ministry of defense, the ministry of oil, and the ministry of foreign affairs. According to the GCC and its implementation plan signed by all parties on November 23, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the opposition divided the 34 cabinet portfolios into two lists and the ruling party chose one of them, that's the one which included the ministries of defense, foreign affairs,and oil. Vice President Hadi must be the candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in early presidential elections to be held on February 21, 2012. Independent candidates will be allowed to compete Mr Hadi. After this election, president Saleh will leave power, but would remain as chairman of his party. On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the ruling party would announce Mr Hadi , who is now the secretary general of the party, as its candidate for the February presidential elections, according to the mechanism plan of the Saudi-led Gulf initiative for power transfer. In the same meeting of the ruling party on Wednesday,the outgoing prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, will be elected as a secretary general of the ruling party instead of the current one, Mr Hadi, according to senior officials who are participate in the meeting. THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND The opposition armed tribesmen and government troops started Tuesday December 6 to withdraw from the city of Taiz after four days of fierce fighting in which dozens were killed and injured from both sides. The ministry of interior said Tuesday in an official statement that 110 defected soldiers and officers were arrested in the city of Taiz including their commander Sadek Sarhan. Earlier this year, the defected general Ali Mohsen, sent the military commander Sarhan to fight against government troops in the city of Taiz. The arrest of Sarhan and his soldiers came after attempts from western diplomats in Sanaa to convince general Muhsen to bring Sarhan back to Sanaa. Yemenis and western monitors are now in the central southern city of Taiz to see who violate the agreements and kill civilians. In Saada, the north of the north, more than 30 people were killed and dozens others injured in fierce fighting between Al Houthi Shiite followers and the Sunni Salafi group based in the same province of Saada over the last two weeks. The top leader of Shiite,Abdul Malik Al Houthi,vowed in a speech delivered on Tuesday December 6, 2011, on the annual Shiite occasion of Ashura, he vowed to continue fighting against what he called the "American and Israeli conspiracy". Al Hourhi refused the GCC initiative to solve the Yemeni political crisis saying it was made by the American Ambassodor in Sanaa. In a phone interview with the spokesman of the Salafi group in Saada, Abu Ismail, who said Al Houthi is exploiting the absence of the government in Saada and launch sectarian war against the Sunnis. Abu Ismail told the Weekly that two American, one French, one Russian, one Malaysian and two Indonesian Salafi students in Dammaj Salafi school in Saada were killed in the ongoing battles between the Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Sunni Salafi fighters. Al Hourhi fighters imposed a siege on about 15,000 people including about 6,000 students of the Salafi school in Dammag area about 50 days ago. Moreover, Al Qaeda in Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, assassinated this week, the most active tribal leader in Lawdar, Tafik Al Junaidi who formed popular anti-Qaeda committees in the Al Qaeda-stricken areas in the south. And militants of the Islamist opposition party, Islah , (brotherhood) assassinated a senior ruling party official who was the deputy governor of Dhammar province, Abdul Kareem Thafan, while he was getting out from his office on Saturday December 3, 2011. Two of Thafan's bodyguards were also killed in the operation which sparked a lot of anger and fear of more similar and retaliatory acts.

UNICEF Deplores Deaths among Children in Recent Armed Clashes in Taiz

Source: UNICEF SANAA, 05 DECEMBER 2011 - UNICEF in Yemen is following with great concern the armed confrontation that continues in Taiz day after day with a direct impact on the most vulnerable - women and children, despite the power transfer deal signed on 23rd November 2011. During the past four days alone, at least three children have been killed and seven other children have been seriously injured. Access to basic social services and their availability is becoming ever more limited with both schools and hospitals under attack from the armed forces and groups. More than 100,000 children are directly affected having limited or no access to schooling or health facilities. “We are greatly disturbed by the confirmed reports of violent attacks on children in Taiz and their increasing deprivation from accessing quality basic social services and the impact on their psychosocial well-being” says Geert Cappaelare, UNICEF’s Representative in Yemen. “All parties to the conflict have to put the interests of children above all other considerations. No single war is worth the life of a child. Education, Health, Quality Nutrition, Protection and Drinking Water are not luxury goods that can be dispensed with. They are fundamental rights and their fulfillment is critical to assisting Taiz and Yemen to move forward and bring an end to under-development and human suffering,” adds Cappaelare.

Fifty houses collapsed in South Yemen

By Mohammed al-kibsi Fifty Houses Collapse in South Yemen Over 50 houses collapsed in Rebat Ba-Ashen town of Doa’an district in Hadramout province on Sunday, officials from Hadramout province said. The preliminary information indicates that the houses collapsed as a result of a landslide resulting from the rainfall. Over 20 families were evacuated and sheltered in 2 schools located near the effected village. Experts said that the houses collapsed in an area estimated at 1 square kilometer. Relief International is preparing a team to visit the effected district and provide urgent relief for approximately 150 victims. The general director of Doa’an district said that the authorities have evacuated 20 families from their collapsed houses to neighboring schools. Dr. Abdulbaqi al-Hawfry from the social affairs of Hadramout said that families whose houses were totally destroyed are estimated at 20. Other families affected by the landslide were sheltered by their relatives and friends. Doa’an valley is well known for producing and exporting the best bees’ honey. Rebat Ba-Ashen is the home land of Osama Ben Laden’s clan and the homeland of the Saudi businessman Ba-Ashen.