Swedish traveler walks from west to east of Yemen to prove Yemen is well

Exclusive by Mohammed al-Kibsi For supporting Yemen and to prove Yemen is well despite all unrest during the past 10 months a traveler from Sweden decided to walk from Tihama region in the west of Yemen up to Sana’a city the capital of Yemen. Mr. Mikael Strandberg started his journey from Zabid on December 7, 2011 and he arrived in Sana’a on Wednesday 21. Mr. Strandberg hired a camel from Zabid that is located in the western coast of Yemen and has to train the camel to be able to cross the mountains as the camel has never been to mountainous areas before, said Mrs. Strandberg Tamila. The Swedish traveler was accompanied by a police man during his journey; however the policeman was wearing civilian clothes during the whole trip. When Mr. Strandberg arrived in Sana’a crowds of people and particularly kids followed him on the streets of Sana’a cheering and applauding for the brave man and at the same time were staring at the camel that some of them seen for the first time walking on the streets of Sana’a. When talking to Mr Strandberg he was just arrived in Sana’a and was tired and surrounded by carious people so he could not talk about the whole trip. He said he would hold a press conference on Thursday morning in Bab al-Yemen to brief the press about the aim of his journey and about how nice and peaceful the Yemeni people are. Mrs. Strandberg said that her husband and she loves Yemen so much and like the Yemeni people who are very charm and very sweet and nice people therefore her husband and she decided to come back to Yemen to arrange for her husband trip from Tihamma region to Sana’a. “I’m so happy that Mikael could make it to Sana’a,” she said happily.

RI provides emergency aid for victims as fifty houses collapsed in South Yemen

By Mohammed al-kibsi 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. As soon as RI country director and staff in Yemen heard about the catastrophe of Ba Ashen village they started making communication to know the size of the catastrophe and possibility of interfering to alleviate the suffering of the landslide’s victims. Within hours the staff managed to get the required information and data, a decision was taken to interfere and a team was formed and decided to travel. The country director Mr. Kyle Foster headed the team from Sana’a and materials were sent from Aden and all arrived in Mukalla city the provincial capital of Hadramout province where they met with the governor of Hadramout Mr. Khaled al-Dini who welcomed RI team and appreciated RI interference. The governor provided a list of accurate numbers of affected families and numbers of each family. Before departing to Hadramout the team made communications with some NGO’s in Hadramout so as to help in facilitating the mission. The Youth Initiative Foundation expressed willingness to provide some volunteers and to help in shipping the materials to Ba-Ashen. One obstacle popped up when the governor told the team that the accurate numbers were 137 people as the initial numbers were estimated at 57. However the team utilized their own money to purchase the required blankets and other stuff for the remaining numbers as Thursday and Friday are the weekend in Yemen and it was impossible to transfer money from the Sana’a office to Mukalla. On the down of Saturday the team and partners from Youth Initiative Foundation started loading materials onto three vehicles and left Mukalla heading to Rebat Ba Ashen through the deserted mountains of Hadramout. At 11 the team arrived in Rebat Ba Ashen where they were received by the Director of Doa’an district, member of the parliament Sheikh Mohammed al-Amodi and head of the local council of Doa’an. The three officials welcomed the team and briefed them on the catastrophe and measures adopted for helping the victims. First the officials and the team made a field visit to the site where found over 48 houses that were built of mod fall down and melt like biscuits. Member of the Parliament Sheikh Mohammed al-Amodi said that he was happy that RI was the first international Organization that interfered and provided initial aid for the victims wishing that the RI would help in the reconstruction of the destroyed houses. After touring the site the team started its work to hand over the aid to the families, giving a blanket and hygiene materials to each person and kitchen kit and hygiene kit. Coincidently, the affected families lined up to receive the RI aids few meters away of Osama Bin Laden’s grand father’s home in Rebat Ba Ashen. Other members of the team started the assessment process, meeting with some victims, locals and officials. At the disaster site a local described the catastrophe and said that the houses fall down all the sudden. “The big houses fall over the small ones pushing them down a matter that worsened the incident,” said Ali Bin Taleb, 60 years old from Rebat Ba-Ashen. However he said none of the victims was of his relatives. He added that some of the houses are owned by the affected families while others were a property of other people who let the poor families to live in them for free. He said that Rebat Ba Ashen is the home village of Ba Ashen that is a big Saudi businessman, Ben Laden Group that is a Saudi business group, and the home village of Ba Samh Saudi businessman as well. He added that two of the houses that collapsed belongs to relatives of the new appointed intreime prime minister of Yemen Mohammed Salem Ba Sindwah who family origin came from Rebat Ba Ashen. Two kids wanted to comment and said that their relatives were among the victims. Yaslem Awadh 12 years old said that his uncle’s house was fall down. “My uncle from my mother side and his 6 kids, his wife and my grandma are living with us in our house now,” Awadh said. “We share blankets and mattresses and we share one bathroom for all family members and for my uncle’s family now,” he said. Mohammed Awadh 11 years old interrupted and said “ I and my uncles kids could not go to school because we used to wake up late as a result of cold,” “My cousin Mohammed and me used to share same blanket so we could not sleep all night and consequently we used to wake up late and could not go to school but now RI has given blankets for all members of my uncle family including my cousin Mohammed,” said the little kid happily. Yeslem wished that RI would give his cousins school uniforms. “My cousins do not have clothes or school uniforms because all their clothes and properties are under the wreckage, said Yaslem as he was pointing to the wreckage of the destroyed houses. Mohammed Ali Salem Ba Hussien 65 old said that he and his family that consists of 17 person luckily could leave the home minutes before it collapsed. “Initially at 5 am we felt like a small quack and I found out that there were some cracks on some of the walls of the house so I evacuated all family members to neighbors’ houses,” said Ba Hussien. “I came back to the home and 2 hours later I felt another quack and the cracks go bigger so I left the house immediately and when I got out I found tens of people running out of their house. Few minutes later the houses fall down one after the other making a storm like dust,” said the old man. “All I could do was crying and at the same time was happy that no one was hurt,” he said. “Thanks for RI staff in Yemen or those abroad that extended their hands and provided aid for us,” he said. “God will reward you all” “These clothes on me are not mine, I had to borrow them from some friends as my own and my family members’ are all under the wreckage,” he said. “I am a worker. I work on growing palm dates trees and I am sick as I had two blood clots so any aid I can receive for me and for my family from any organization is highly appreciated,” he said. Noor Mohammed a 62 old woman said that she and her family had nothing to eat or any clothes to wear and had no money to buy anything. “These kitchen kits and blankets no doubt will help us to cope with life,” said Noor. As one of the volunteers was helping her carrying the aids to her new shelter room provided to her by one of the locals she wished RI could reconstruct her small house that fall part. “Before you came here and gave us these donations we felt like we are lost and had no hope, but now I feel like there is some hope and that there are good people somewhere on the globe that I never knew about before who like to help the needy people during disasters,” “God reward them” she said. The General Director of Doa’an district Salem Ba Humaid thanked RI for the aid they presented to the victims and said that the living standards of most of Doa’an district residents including these living in Rebat Ba Ashen are below poverty line. “The RI interference made us feel that all people on the globe are equal and that humanity is one everywhere regardless of race, color or religion,” said the director. “As you have learnt the victims now are living temporarily with their relatives, neighbors, or friends but as you know the hoisting families can bare them for a month, six months, a year but not for good, so I hope that RI and other International organizations could build houses for the affected families,” said Ba Humaid. By 4 pm the team accomplished its mission successfully and started their journey back to Mukalla along with their partners from Youth Initiative Foundation. Upon arriving in Mukalla the team held a meeting with the officials of the Youth Initiative Foundation headed by Mr. Waleed Bashuaib, projects and Programs Manager where the latter briefed RI staff about their projects. “We have five main projects for developing and qualifying the youth in Hadramout in different fields,” said Bashuaib. He added that the Foundation could train and qualify over a 1000 youth in different spheres for free and that those volunteers in return exert their efforts for training and qualifying others and for interfering in different events including disasters whenever they happen. “The five volunteers from our foundation that traveled with you to Rebat Ba Ashen were just an example of what the well qualified youth can do for their communities,” said Bashuaib. For his part Dr. Habib Rajeh OFDA’s Program Manager thanked YIF for the assistants they provided and for the good job they performed during the whole mission. He also thanked the five members of YIF that contributed in the mission to Rebat Ba Ashen and in particular to Arc. Ahmad AbdulRahman Basharahil that was the vocal point of communication between RI and YIF since the beginning till the end of the mission. The two sides also discussed possible future cooperation between RI and YIF. 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 businessmen Ba-Ashen Ba Sameh and Ben Laden Group.

Yemen, Spain to sign security agreement

By Mohammed al-Kibsi Yemen and Spain discussed preparations for signing a bilateral security cooperation agreement and to assign a security attaché in the Spanish embassy in Sana'a, Saba news agency said on Sunday. This came in a meeting brought together Yemeni new Interior Minister Abdul-Qader Qahtan and Spanish ambassador to Yemen Francisco Javier Hergueta Garnica. Qahtan and Garnica also reviewed the security cooperation relations between Yemen and Spain and the means to enhance them. The Spanish ambassador asserted his country's readiness to provide all aid in the security areas to stabilize the situations in Yemen, voicing his satisfaction at the positive actions achieved to implement the reconciliation deal brokered by the GCC and backed by the Security Council.

Yemen interim government approves general program

By Mohammed al-Kibsi In their meeting on Monday, the cabinet ministers approved the national reconciliation government's general program, which is to be submitted to the parliament for approval in the coming few days. In its meeting chaired by new interim Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa, the cabinet assigned Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister and the cabinet's secretary general to revise the program taking the ministers' notes into consideration. The program is based on the constitution, Gulf initiative and its executive mechanism in addition to the draft 4th four-year plan for socio-economic development and poverty reduction 2011 – 2015. It targets a set of priorities the government will focus on to tackle the challenges Yemen is facing currently. In the political area, the government will mobilize all national efforts in order to restore political stability and security, create the suitable environment to achieve safe and peaceful transfer of power, respect human rights and carry out the youths' legitimate demands for change. Economically, the government puts returning the affected basic services in its urgent priorities, topped by electricity and oil derivatives. The government will seeks to convince the fraternal and friendly States to establish a special international fund for Yemen to finance priority projects for governorates' development and contract with consulting firms to prepare the required studies and select companies to carry out them. In addition, it will set up a fund to present monthly assistances for families of killed and wounded people and to hospitalize the wounded people abroad if required. The government will form committees to contact with youth movements all over the country to discuss and involve them in determining the country's future.

Yemen VP, foreign diplomats review progress achieved for implementing GCC initiative

By Mohammed al-Kibsi Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi met with ambassadors of UNSC permanent member states, Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and head of the European Union (EU) mission in Yemen on Monday in Sana’a. During the meeting, Hadi and the diplomats reviewed the progress achieved in implementing the Gulf initiative and its executive mechanism as well as the outcomes of the ambassadors’ visits to Taiz and Aden governorates. The ambassadors indicated to the tasks and decisions should be taken to bring security and peace back to Taiz and to restore confidence among all conflicted parties through implemeting the UN resolution 2014 that is based on the Gulf initiative. They stressed the international community's support for the security, stability and unity of Yemen and all operational procedures for the initiative. They accentuated the importance of cooperating to overcome all political and economic issues, pointing to the aid that would be presented through funds established by the GCC states and donor as well as the conference proposed to be held in Riyadh for this purpose. Under the cooperation and partnership to end the crisis in Yemen, the US ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein distributed to all ambassadors at the meeting copies of a work programme including the tasks required to address various issues.

A volcano erupts in west of Yemen

By Mohammed al-Kibsi A volcano erupted near Saba Island in the Red Sea on Monday, said fishermen from Salif port city in the west of Yemen. The fishermen confirmed that the volcano erupted near Saba Island one of the Al-Zubair archipelago small Islands located 30 nautical miles away if Salif city. The fishermen said that the volcano can be seen 3 hours away from its center and that it has been popping up red lava that reached 20-30 meters high. The fishermen said this was the first volcano they ever seen in the region.

RI provides aid for victims of Bin Laden's home village

By Mohammed al-Kibsi As soon as RI country director and staff in Yemen heard about the catastrophe of Ba Ashen village they started making communication to know the size of the catastrophe and possibility of interfering to alleviate the suffering of the landslide’s victims. Within hours the staff managed to get the required information and data, a decision was taken to interfere and a team was formed and decided to travel. The country director Mr. Kyle Foster headed the team from Sana’a and materials were sent from Aden and all arrived in Mukalla city the provincial capital of Hadramout province where they met with the governor of Hadramout Mr. Khaled al-Dini who welcomed RI team and appreciated RI interference. The governor provided a list of accurate numbers of affected families and numbers of each family. Before departing to Hadramout the team made communications with some NGO’s in Hadramout so as to help in facilitating the mission. The Youth Initiative Foundation expressed willingness to provide some volunteers and to help in shipping the materials to Ba-Ashen. One obstacle popped up when the governor told the team that the accurate numbers were 137 people as the initial numbers were estimated at 57. However the team utilized their own money to purchase the required blankets and other stuff for the remaining numbers as Thursday and Friday are the weekend in Yemen and it was impossible to transfer money from the Sana’a office to Mukalla. On the down of Saturday the team and partners from Youth Initiative Foundation started loading materials onto three vehicles and left Mukalla heading to Rebat Ba Ashen through the deserted mountains of Hadramout. At 11 the team arrived in Rebat Ba Ashen where they were received by the Director of Doa’an district, member of the parliament Sheikh Mohammed al-Amodi and head of the local council of Doa’an. The three officials welcomed the team and briefed them on the catastrophe and measures adopted for helping the victims. First the officials and the team made a field visit to the site where found over 48 houses that were built of mod fall down and melt like biscuits. Member of the Parliament Sheikh Mohammed al-Amodi said that he was happy that RI was the first international Organization that interfered and provided initial aid for the victims wishing that the RI would help in the reconstruction of the destroyed houses. After touring the site the team started its work to hand over the aid to the families, giving a blanket and hygiene materials to each person and kitchen kit and hygiene kit. Coincidently, the affected families lined up to receive the RI aids few meters away of Osama Bin Laden’s grand father’s home in Rebat Ba Ashen. Other members of the team started the assessment process, meeting with some victims, locals and officials. At the disaster site a local described the catastrophe and said that the houses fall down all the sudden. “The big houses fall over the small ones pushing them down a matter that worsened the incident,” said Ali Bin Taleb, 60 years old from Rebat Ba-Ashen. However he said none of the victims was of his relatives. He added that some of the houses are owned by the affected families while others were a property of other people who let the poor families to live in them for free. He said that Rebat Ba Ashen is the home village of Ba Ashen that is a big Saudi businessman, Ben Laden Group that is a Saudi business group, and the home village of Ba Samh Saudi businessman as well. He added that two of the houses that collapsed belongs to relatives of the new appointed intreime prime minister of Yemen Mohammed Salem Ba Sindwah who family origin came from Rebat Ba Ashen. Two kids wanted to comment and said that their relatives were among the victims. Yaslem Awadh 12 years old said that his uncle’s house was fall down. “My uncle from my mother side and his 6 kids, his wife and my grandma are living with us in our house now,” Awadh said. “We share blankets and mattresses and we share one bathroom for all family members and for my uncle’s family now,” he said. Mohammed Awadh 11 years old interrupted and said “ I and my uncles kids could not go to school because we used to wake up late as a result of cold,” “My cousin Mohammed and me used to share same blanket so we could not sleep all night and consequently we used to wake up late and could not go to school but now RI has given blankets for all members of my uncle family including my cousin Mohammed,” said the little kid happily. Yeslem wished that RI would give his cousins school uniforms. “My cousins do not have clothes or school uniforms because all their clothes and properties are under the wreckage, said Yaslem as he was pointing to the wreckage of the destroyed houses. Mohammed Ali Salem Ba Hussien 65 old said that he and his family that consists of 17 person luckily could leave the home minutes before it collapsed. “Initially at 5 am we felt like a small quack and I found out that there were some cracks on some of the walls of the house so I evacuated all family members to neighbors’ houses,” said Ba Hussien. “I came back to the home and 2 hours later I felt another quack and the cracks go bigger so I left the house immediately and when I got out I found tens of people running out of their house. Few minutes later the houses fall down one after the other making a storm like dust,” said the old man. “All I could do was crying and at the same time was happy that no one was hurt,” he said. “Thanks for RI staff in Yemen or those abroad that extended their hands and provided aid for us,” he said. “God will reward you all” “These clothes on me are not mine, I had to borrow them from some friends as my own and my family members’ are all under the wreckage,” he said. “I am a worker. I work on growing palm dates trees and I am sick as I had two blood clots so any aid I can receive for me and for my family from any organization is highly appreciated,” he said. Noor Mohammed a 62 old woman said that she and her family had nothing to eat or any clothes to wear and had no money to buy anything. “These kitchen kits and blankets no doubt will help us to cope with life,” said Noor. As one of the volunteers was helping her carrying the aids to her new shelter room provided to her by one of the locals she wished RI could reconstruct her small house that fall part. “Before you came here and gave us these donations we felt like we are lost and had no hope, but now I feel like there is some hope and that there are good people somewhere on the globe that I never knew about before who like to help the needy people during disasters,” “God reward them” she said. The General Director of Doa’an district Salem Ba Humaid thanked RI for the aid they presented to the victims and said that the living standards of most of Doa’an district residents including these living in Rebat Ba Ashen are below poverty line. “The RI interference made us feel that all people on the globe are equal and that humanity is one everywhere regardless of race, color or religion,” said the director. “As you have learnt the victims now are living temporarily with their relatives, neighbors, or friends but as you know the hoisting families can bare them for a month, six months, a year but not for good, so I hope that RI and other International organizations could build houses for the affected families,” said Ba Humaid. By 4 pm the team accomplished its mission successfully and started their journey back to Mukalla along with their partners from Youth Initiative Foundation. Upon arriving in Mukalla the team held a meeting with the officials of the Youth Initiative Foundation headed by Mr. Waleed Bashuaib, projects and Programs Manager where the latter briefed RI staff about their projects. “We have five main projects for developing and qualifying the youth in Hadramout in different fields,” said Bashuaib. He added that the Foundation could train and qualify over a 1000 youth in different spheres for free and that those volunteers in return exert their efforts for training and qualifying others and for interfering in different events including disasters whenever they happen. “The five volunteers from our foundation that traveled with you to Rebat Ba Ashen were just an example of what the well qualified youth can do for their communities,” said Bashuaib. For his part Dr. Habib Rajeh OFDA’s Program Manager thanked YIF for the assistants they provided and for the good job they performed during the whole mission. He also thanked the five members of YIF that contributed in the mission to Rebat Ba Ashen and in particular to Arc. Ahmad AbdulRahman Basharahil that was the vocal point of communication between RI and YIF since the beginning till the end of the mission. The two sides also discussed possible future cooperation between RI and YIF.