Church in Aden Appeals to Authorities
Well at least there is a Catholic Church in Yemen.
NY: The Catholic Church in Aden urged the Yemeni authorities to put an end for suffering of Nigerian sailors who are making a sit-in inside the church protesting the Yemeni Company for Fishing and Investment’s tarry to pay their salaries.
The priest Petrikrost, head of Ras Marbat church, described the company’s measures against the sailors as “aggressive”.
We exerted great efforts and contacts with officials in the company and leaders in the Marine Affairs at Aden harbor to pay the sailors’ salaries since August 2006, but those efforts have gone in vain, said the priest in a statement to NewsYemen.
He said the sailors are living in bad conditions so the church hosted them to provide them necessary human services.
The priest requested from state and officials in Aden to settle the problem and find proper solution for the 21 Nigerian sailors.
The priest, who represents also the Sailors Association International, confirmed that the association has offices in 240 countries and offers humanitarian services for sailors of different nationalities.
The Yemeni Public Authority for Marine Affairs said it is keenly following the case of the Nigerian sailors to find proper settlement for the problem.
The sailors violated navigation laws when they left their residences to make a strike inside the church. That also violates the contract between them and the company, said the legal consultant of the Yemeni Company for Fishing and Investment, Hani al-Naeem.
He said the church had to refuse to intervene in this case.
The 21 Nigerian sailors started their strike six weeks ago in the Catholic church in Ras Marbat of Al-Tawahi city, south of Aden, claiming the company did not pay them money for five months and that the amount reached $95,000 (more than 18 million Yemeni rials). They said they had to go to the church because they are Christians and have not another place to shelter them.
Update: They should be going home.
