Armies of Liberation

David at Medien Kritik characterizes the kidnapping of the former German ambassador thus: Arab extremists kidnapped another German.

In reality, the kidnappers are disenfranchised tribesmen, who are effectively excluded from the political system (because they comprise the greatest potential check on Saleh’s authority). Lacking a functional judiciary, many kidnappings occur to effect the release of family members held without trial, often as hostages, by the regime.

From the Yemen Times:

He said the kidnappers’ sole demand was to release five tribesmen arrested more than a month ago in relation to tribal vengeance incidents…

They were supposed to be tried in the court of law for involvement in successive vengeance battles since 1993. The kidnappers say the authorities did not fulfill their promises and hence the tribe decided to kidnap the tourists to plea their case….

They were outraged by news that the security officer, who killed their relatives was promoted to a higher rank by the government after the murder.

They said authorities did not bring the officer and the other culprits to justice despite many appeals, forcing Aal Abdullah to take the matter ‘into their own hands’.

This is a good description of their motivation, even if its possible Faris wrote it. In general,

They aim to extract concessions from the government, pledges to build facilities, roads, free prisoners or, in the worst cases, claim a ransom.

This last demand, however reprehensible, is a reflection of the fact that the kidnappers are often living in abject poverty, desperate for food, clothes, or even medicine for their children or elderly relatives.

These are not “Arab extremists.” These are not terrorists, they are terrorized instead by the regime’s biased use of power. These are extremely poor people without any legitimate means to impact the highly authoritarian and rampantly corrupt regime.

Kidnapping is *not* a good way to voice their grievances or gain bargaining power with the regime. But this kidnapping, as the one before it, does not belong in some handy dandy little box of “Arab extremism.”

Some quotes from the Yemeni papers with links

Buying good media coverage, not an unusual occurance:

As for chairman of the board of directors of the Watani Bank Dr Ahmed Al-Hamdani, and according to media sources, has allocated around YR one million for journalists who would stand by him against dealing with the attack on him, saying it was targeted against him from among the other banks operating in the country.

Why the Houthis?

Politicians differed in their explanations of the reasons that led the authorities to uproot the activities of Al-Houthi followers. Some say that the reasons are political; others describe them as ethnical while the third group relates the authorities’ attempt to exterminate Al-Houthi as a response to U.S. and Israeli demands. Majority of politicians, however, believe that Saudis, through their strong influence in Yemen, have a hand in plans for eliminating the Shiite movement of Al-Houthi, which according to their belief, limits the expansion of the Wahabi movement in Yemeni territory.

Why the kidnapping?

The kidnappers told the mediators that ‘they resorted to kidnapping because they failed to convince the security authorities to release their relatives and refer them to judiciary”….Security authorities claim the three detainees have been accused of fighting the US-led coalition in the Iraqi territories. They also accuse them of having connection with one of the organizations facilitating the transportation of Yemeni fighters to Iraq.

Agriculture:, a main stay of the economy.

They said they aimed at achieving a high rate of productivity this season but insecticides spread in their farms destroyed the crops. A vast area was destroyed because of these bad insecticides making the 2005 product less than the planed rate by far….Consequent to their deteriorating conditions, many farmers were compelled to abandon their farms.

Women agricultrual workers:

The study, published by the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) program, added that the majority of working women are concentrated in the agricultural sector as unpaid family workers. It is estimated that approximately 61.9% of women workers in Yemen are unpaid.

Business:

The report pointed out that Yemen had captured the highest figure in the cost of building a legal entity for businesses. While in Kuwait it is 24% of the average income of the individual, it reaches at 269.2% of the average of income of the individual in Yemen.

Criminal enterprises: of the powerful negatively impact society.

Considering the strategic location of Yemen, drugs are usually shipped from Southeast Asia through the Gulf of Aden and other coasts around the country. From there, it is shipped to numerous gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and other countries in the region. Not surprisingly, many of these illegal drugs are left behind and used in Yemen. New markets for these drugs have been created in places like Aden, Hodieda, and other cities across the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf shores.

Traffic police:

Traffic police only get paid the equivalent of $5 for a day’s work, which is the reason for this widespread problem….A traffic police officer who preferred to remain anonymous said, “People don’t understand that we are living through this dark age as well. With salaries like the equivalent of $150 monthly, we can’t even guarantee ourselves a future.” It is hard to imagine who is right when you hear the story from both sides. Citizens complain of traffic police oppression, while traffic police complain of government oppression.

Yet Another Journalist Targeted:

“They called me an al-Houthi associate and accused me of acting against the regime and the state, which is the same accusation used by security officials in the area against any citizen rejecting their brutal and illegal actions,” he said. He added, “other calls were made by those officials to my relatives asking about my home in Sanaa and where I go.”

He said he fears retaliation by the police, who could attack his family living in the Al-Shahil district because of what he has written in the report.

The cultural heritage:

I think the governmental sector failed in protecting antiquities. It is very difficult to convince the authorities with the importance of antiquities and to make them realize what antiquities are….Confronted with a question about the security of archeological sites many of which are believed to have been left to looters and robbers, Prof. Yosuf replied that this is the duty of the locals themselves and the local government.

GCC:

Other political analysts described the summit results as below expectations, some going so far as to say that even the pro-Yemen GCC attitudes were below what the people of the Gulf states aspire to. Other analysts believe that any steps taken by the GCC countries are useful to Yemen and should be welcomed. Nasserite leader Mohammed Al-Sabri believed Yemen required further reforms in all sectors to avoid lagging behind the Gulf states.

On the other hand, theres a few saved posts and links lists I can throw together:

Transparency Yemen offices corrupted per this oped:

People start working and then receive their payment, not to exceed 50,000 Yemeni Riyals. The receiver is to sign the receipt, leaving the rest for the organization’s official who enters the date, spending purpose and beneficiary’s name. However, the corrupt official then writes the sum as $900 (180,000YR). Invoices and purchase receipts often are handled this way. Finally, the donor receives a file with all documentation proving funds were spent on the project. Of course, also included are published news items about the project.

A good report from the YO on corruption in the embassies:

In Yemeni Embassy of the United Kingdom it has been found that Yemeni nationals and foreigners are asked to pay one hundred pounds sterling for approval of a single document, whether personal or commercial. “You have to deposit the total amount for the number of documents you need approved in a private company account,” a Yemeni-British businessman told the Yemen Observer. “I discovered from the bank receipt that the account is under the name of the financial officer of the embassy.”

The article details also the practices in the Yemeni embassies in Saudi Arabia and Beruit.

An analysis of the very high rates of female mortality, also from the YO:

A recent study found that for every 100,000 baby delivered, an estimated 366 women die due to birth-related complications…The corresponding number of these maternal deaths in neighboring countries is just 10.

While 51% of women in the developing countries deliver babies with the aid of one skilled attendant, then in Yemen, a very broad section of women have no access to any obstetric medicine at all.

Lack of access to obstetric services remains a pivotal reason behind high maternal mortality rates.”

whew, now this guy really didn’t like Finkel’s articles: The problem, for those who think reality is worth knowing, is with the distorted vision of a hotel-based journalist on a limited assignment published via dismissive rhetoric and translated quotes scattered about in tepid newspaperspeak like shrapnel after a cluster bomb explodes. And some more: Yemen is more than an embryonic democracy. Unlike Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, where most of the perpetrators of the September 11 bombing came from, Yemen is already a democracy with several successful elections as supporting evidence. I guess that depends on your definition of success and democracy. Its a long analysis, with some valid points, that I have to read again. But I heard positive reaction from Yemenis about Finkles articles. I think Finkle did a good job, considering the country is so unknown, playing out the relation between Saleh and the tribes was a major accomplishment. Describing the administration as a kleptocracy is spot on.

Now this is odd. An article in the Arab News notes a Swiss court’s decision to acquit Yassin Abdullah Al-Qadia (also Kadi Qadi Quadi), a Saudi national who donated to Zindani’s al-Iman university. The article says, “The charges alleged that Al-Qadi gave money in 1998 ostensibly to construct student housing at Al-Iman University in Yemen while knowing that the funds may have ended up supporting Al-Qaeda’s plan to attack New York City.” The suit was brought by 9/11 families, not the USG.

The odd thing is that The 9/11 Report and other analysis ties all the financing directly to bin Laden. The article states, “And on Dec. 12 the Swiss concurred, stating that no evidence ever linked Al-Qadi to any knowledge of the possibility that his money could have ended up in the hands of a known terrorist organization.” So did the Swiss court find that this guy just didnt know? Or that the money that went to al-Iman did not end up in the hands of a terrorist organization?

The US Treasury Dept classified Zindani as a “major terrorist” in 2004 as a contact and I think also a financier. But this is the first time I ever saw anything published that linked Zindani to 9/11, other then the fact that he was bin Laden’s mentor and spiritual advisor.

Analysis of the GPC conference from the Daily Star:

Yemen’s ruling party on Friday re-elected the country’s long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh as its head, in a move widely interpreted to mean that he was likely to seek a new term. President Saleh has served his country honorably, and long – but perhaps long enough, because he embodies two of the chronic, structural problems in Arab political governance systems during the past 40 years.

One problem is that too many Arab heads of state have been former armed forces commanders who have tended to run their countries in the same top-down way they used to run their militaries….The second problem that plagues much of this region is that of presidents-for-life. Saleh has run the former North Yemen and then the united Yemen for a total of 27 years – a full generation. Rulers who stay in power for so long tend to rule badly after the first 25 years, because they allow systems to develop around them that slowly atrophy and succumb to mismanagement, insularity, corruption and general mediocrity.

And the presidential term is seven years, that’s a long time.

This is also strange for several reasons: Al-Sahwa.net – (12/20)

Yemeni official sources revealed that
the United States of America asked Yemen to open US
prisons in Yemen.

Chairman of the Political Circle of the Nasserite
Unionist party Mohammad al-Sabri said that US
requested Yemen to open special American prisons
during the latest visit of president Ali Abdullah
Saleh to the United States last November.

Al-Sabri confirmed the US request in a paper offered
in a debate session held by the Yemeni Center for
Strategic Studies on Tuesday on the reforms initiative
of the Joint Meeting Parties.

Saleh told al-Sabri this?
And an official denial via 26 Sept.

more links
(Read on …)

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men

Joy to the World

I have lots o’ links but I had no time to post them with all the Christmas preparations, but I have to mention these now that dinner is in the oven and we are home from church.

My Present From Saleh: Hope

In an interview with Ahmed Jaralleh (who BTW is an editor for whom I have great respect,) President Saleh said:

Q: You have said you won’t compete for the presidency of Yemen again. Is this to measure your popularity or are you really tired and want to bow out?

A: Some politicians may think I am using this issue to measure my popularity and find out whether people still want my leadership. However, I assure you there is no need for such speculations because Yemen is full of intellectuals, smart politicians and highly educated people. I have taken this decision because I want to encourage my citizens to prepare themselves to replace Ali Abdullah Saleh. Although I am not old and still capable of handling this huge responsibility, I want to see my people take over the authority in a democratic manner.

Is he really this smart? I know Saleh is smart but is he smart enough to see that he will be world renowned and acclaimed if he really does step down?

Also on such a holy day, I hate to argue with the Pope but…

He singled out the Darfur conflict in Africa in urging strength for all those who are working for peace, development and the prevention of conflicts. He urged protection “of the most elementary rights of those experiencing tragic humanitarian crises, such as those in Darfur and in other regions of central Africa.”

And thats very good, and some of the older readers will remember when I asked everybody to email Kofi Annan before the Darfur situation hit the media. Come to think of it, that was the first blogger alliance I made, way before Yemen, and all the bloggers were very good then to post about Darfur when I asked them. And Darfur is truely a tragic humanitarian crisis, and there are others in Africa. But lets note that the bottom three most malnourished children in the world are Sudanese, Yemeni and Malawi in that order.

(my new article at World Press in English and in Yemen at al-Shoura, in Arabic, and in al-Thoury in Arabic. )

Yemen: Failure or Democracy

Ahmed al-Rabei recently described the worst case for Yemen as, “an Afghan scenario and a civil war that will spread to the borders of G.C.C. countries.” Al-Rabei, a columnist for Alsharq Alwasat, wrote with great affection for the Yemeni people of his concern for the future of Yemen. Al-Rabei is not alone in his assessment of an uncertain future for Yemen. A variety of international organizations and many reports have highlighted increasingly dysfunctional Yemeni institutions and governance.

Transparency International has noted widespread and growing corruption, ranking Yemen near the bottom of its corruption scale. The qualification assessment for the U.S. funded Millennium Challenge Account determined that the Yemeni regime has moved backwards from previous assessments. In the 2005 round, Yemen failed all six “ruling justly” indicators. It failed three of the four indicators of “investing in people.” As a result, Yemen did not qualify for substantial U.S. developmental funding. The World Bank recently cut Yemen’s funding by 34 percent due to corruption. Christiaan Poortman, vice president at the World Bank, noted during a press conference that the regime’s performance indicators fell markedly.

Yemen ranks eighth on the Fund for Peace’s “Failed State Index.” The goal of the Fund for Peace (F.F.P.) is the prevention of war, and the Failed State Index analyzes states in terms of the potential for state failure, whether from implosion, explosion or erosion, with the hope of averting violent crises. Yemen exhibits many symptoms of a failing state. In the F.F.P. analysis, Yemen scored lower (more stable) in terms of social indicators and was ranked higher on economic and political indicators. An analysis of the methodology used by the Fund for Peace reveals how the concentration of power in Yemen increasingly distorts the state.

Uneven Development

One of the two standard economic predictors of state failure is “uneven development,” defined as “group based inequality, and/or impoverishment.” Yemen scored high on this criterion. (Read on …)

the petition for Saleh to honor his pledge to step down, in response to GPC announcement of a petition drive for him to run again.

The Arab News in Saudi Arabia titles the article: Pro-Democracy Activists Call on Saleh to Step Down. The article notes: In 1999, he was elected for a seven-year tenure in country’s first universal suffrage presidential vote with a 96 percent margin. His term ends next year, but the constitution allows him one more term in office.

As you follow the story of Yemen, you start to notice the same people over and over again. Like I found some article about press violations in 2000 and there was Jamal Amer, the recently kidnapped editor.

Mohammed Qahtan of the Islah party got a letter that said: “It is astonishing that you have accepted to become a rabid dog for a party that was able to use the hounding talents of fools and opportunists like yourself in the service of its interests.” He has charged that the secret police was behind the letter predicting he would “drown in a cesspool”.

This al-Bukari is another one.

Al-Sahwa.net –(12/11) The manager of the office of the Saudi
Okaz newspaper in Sana’a Hafez al-Bukari was dismissed
from his job, reasons are vague.

While al-Bukari refused to comment on the dismiss,
some media reports though it based upon pressures on
and calls to the Okaz headquarters in Saudi by Yemeni
informants who do not agree with al-Bukari activities
and defending stances for the sake of press freedom
after he had been elected a secretary-general of the
Yemeni Journalists Syndicate in 2004.
(Read on …)

ADNKI: Yemen pushes for entry into the GCC.

At the Gulf summit in Muscat, Oman, in 2001, Yemen was admitted to the council of ministers of education, health and social affairs and to the Gulf Football Cup. Yemen now hopes to join the economic groups and other institutions of the GCC, and offers its recent World Bank-backed economic reforms as proof that it deserves to get full membership, the Yemen Observer reports.

Was this the same soccer league that recently suspended the team because of governmental interference? Economic reforms, where-decreasing the oil subsidies while increasing military spending 50%?

World Bank statistics put Yemen’s Gross National Income (GNI) at 570 US dollars per capita. The GNI of the other GCC members ranges from Oman at 7,890 dollars to Kuwait at 17,970 dollars and the United Arab Emirates at around 20,000 dollars. Life expectancy in Yemen is also significantly lower than that of the Gulf countries.

Child mortality is significantly higher.