Jane Novak slams President Saleh’s regime on Al-Jazeera
That’s the title of the article. There’s a few more in the Arabic papers. Its a big topic today in Yemen. Also on the Yemeni forums and websites. Did I slam his regime? hmmm, yeah.
[15/11/2005] (NewsYemen) Nov 15, Sanaa – Prominent US journalist Jane Novak slammed yesterday the 27-year-long regime of President Saleh in a live debate program broadcast on Al-Jazeera and focused on Saleh’s visit to Washington DC.In a lively televised debate on the pan-Arab international news channel, Novak said that authorities and powers are all in the hands of President Saleh, while “Yemen suffers from extreme centralization and corruption.”
She added that the people of Yemen are under tremendous economic strains while the people’s wealth is “being smuggled abroad in the form of weapons and oil, while there are numerous hungry citizens.”
Novak noted that the regime acts “against democracy and targets reformists” who wish to improve their country’s conditions.
She also noted that there is no progress in democracy in Yemen and that the US administration is not standing by the public in the open, but is helping reformists behind closed doors by promoting developmental and political reforms.
The live debate anchor Hafiz Al-Mirazi said that his program was criticized by a number of Yemeni officials for hosting Novak on the show because she represents a view that is “hostile to Yemen and the Arab world in general”.
Novak was attacked personally by another guest on the program, Faris Al-Sanabani, who works as a Press Secretary to President Saleh and is the owner of Yemen Observer. He was later warned not to target the character of guests, but to rather provide substantial concrete evidence that contradicts Novak’s claims.
Meanwhile, Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abubakr Al-Qirbi was more diplomatic in his tone when responding by Novak. He said, “Yemen would not be offended by constructive criticism that is based on the sense of responsibility, and I feel that Novak did not get the proper information so I invite her to visit Yemen and find out about democracy in Yemen and the challenges that it faces.”
However, Al-Qirbi confessed that democracy in Yemen is facing several difficulties. “Yemen is a poor country with very limited awareness and a weak economy. Those factors do affect its democracy.” he said in the program.
He added that Yemen does not deny that there are problems, “but they are not part of a governmental policy, but rather a result of accumulations of the past, and everyone participated in their creation.”
Al-Qirbi also said that Saleh’s visit to Washington did not tackle the pledge of Saleh not to rerun for presidential elections. He said that Saleh seems to be committed not to rerun again, but this issue is not of concern to Yemen-US relations because it is a local matter.
Dr. Mohamed Abdulmalik Al-Mutawakkil, the General Secretary Assistant of the People’s Popular Forces opposition party, said that “lack of democracy, equality, independent judiciary, and political reform is what created terrorism in Yemen.”
Al-Mutawakkil was only reachable by phone as Yemen’s sole satellite connection provider, the Ministry of Information, refused to allow its facilities to be used to air his interview because ‘it cannot use them for opposition figures’.
Al-Sanabani of Yemen Observer said that the number of protestors against Saleh’s regime who were demonstrating in front of the Whitehouse during Saleh’s visit to Washington were not more than 32 people, seven of who were speaking with a Somali accent.
He attacked Jane Novak saying that she was able to find space for her articles in Yemeni papers while she was not allowed to write in American publications.
Former US ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull, on the other hand, noted that the Yemeni governments needs to exert more efforts to promote democracy and political reform in Yemen, as those issues are essential for the overall progress of the country.
It is pretty funny that the Yemeni government officials that were on spent their time attacking me instead of talking about Yemen.
And Mutawakkil said something about the American people supporting democracy or something like that which I missed at the time. And its true: the bloggers are very much with the Yemeni people. When I need publicity, there’s a lot of people with bigger websites that help me. Also the World Press editor didnt run ten articles on Yemen in a row because he likes me, he gets it about the regime and the people.
It seems al-Jazeera’s translator did a good job as well because this is pretty accurate. They did a good thing. You wouldn’t believe the email I’m getting.
