Armies of Liberation

INT

Fifteen people were killed when the Yemeni army bombarded a village in an area at the heart of a rebellion by the Zaidi minority against government forces, a tribal source said on Thursday.

The explosion ripped through a petrol station in Souq al-Lail in the northern province of Saada on Wednesday night, setting the station ablaze, killing 15 people and wounding another 35, the source said.

An army official confirmed the incident, saying a number of people were killed and injured.

“The Yemeni authorities received information about an attack led by supporters of the rebellion against shops in Souq al-Lail in a bid to take over the petrol station and stock up on fuel,” the official said.

“Security forces sought to strike the service station to prevent the rebels from seizing it,” he added.

Thousands of people have died since a three-year-old uprising by the Shi’a Zaidi minority resumed in January in Saada, according to various sources.

Hundreds were killed in an earlier rebellion which sought restoration of the Zaidi imamate, which ruled in Sanaa until a 1962 coup by republican forces.

An offshoot of Shi’a Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the north.

Yemen has accused Shi’a Iran of supporting some of the rebels. – AFP

More Sa’ada updates from the YT

SA’ADA, May 30 — Tribal and media sources from Sa’ada reveal that violent confrontations continue to flare between Yemeni army forces and Houthi loyalists in most Sa’ada districts, while official media claim that the army is seizing all of Sa’ada.

Houthis are employing guerilla war tactics in their operations against the army, attacking military camps and barracks for several hours and then moving on to other places.

Sources also mention that Houthis are still seizing four Sa’ada districts, together with numerous strategic high positions, and that the war is still ongoing in Al-Safra district where the fourth Sa’ada war erupted four months ago.

In Al-Salim’s Dammaj area, Houthis attacked Akwn Mountain on Monday, taking it back from the army. They also waged an offensive on central Al-Safra district; however, losses among both warring sides weren’t reported. (Read on …)

Otay, some rocks fell on the storage depot causing an explosion which destroyed the weapons the regime had so proudly displayed to reporters in touting its weapons buy back program. So now we dont have to worry about all those RPG’s, anti-tank missles, bombs and other large and medium weapons being exported, smuggled or re-sold on the black market.

The Gulf States had funded the weapons buy back program.

So the “influential persons” make money when they buy weapons for the military or elsewhere, when they sell them to dealers or the public, when they buy them back from the dealers or the public, and when they resell them again after they are reported destroyed. The same persons can handle a transaction on the same weapon four times. Now thats what I call effective marketing.

SANAA, May 31 (Reuters) – Explosions at a military depot in Yemen on Thursday were caused by a landslide, a Web site run by the defence ministry said. No casualties were reported.

“The explosions at a camp east of the capital Sanaa resulted from rocks falling on old ammunition in a storage facility at the camp located on a slope,” the site, www.26sep.net, quoted a defence official as saying. “It was caused by rain.”

“So far there are no casualties,” said the official.

Fire trucks and police cars rushed to the area. Hundreds of people watched from rooftops as smoke billowed from the depot.

Earlier this week, officials took reporters to the depot to display bombs, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and other weapons bought or seized from civilians as part of a crackdown in the Arab country where arms are openly carried.

Yemen’s cabinet launched a campaign last month to shut down shops selling guns without a licence. It said millions of dollars would be spent buying up weapons from tribesmen.

Which warehouse? Bombs or guns? Its really not funny. I would guess bombs. There was another explosion at a depot in Aden last year. That one was caused by the sun.

The ministry informed the journalists about three warehouses of weapons in the suburbs of the Sana’a containing tens of thousands of weapons of various kinds. The first weapons warehouse contained tank missiles and machine guns, while the second warehouse had different kinds of artillery shells, explosives and mines. The officials at the warehouses refused to reveal any details to reporters on the prices of these weapons that have been collected, just saying that their task is confined to the storage of such weapons.

The Minister of Interior Rashad al-Alimi said that the cost of these weapons exceeds tens of billions, and that these weapons were collected in an effort to implement the decision to collect the country’s weapons that was approved by the government last April.

“The explosions occurred at an old ammunition dump at the foot of Noqom mountain, a few kilometres (miles)” southeast of the capital, the official said, adding that there were no casualties.

double punkification

al-Motamar

HR Minister calls for exposing prejudiced use of religion against women
Wednesday, 30-May-2007
Almotamar.net – Human rights Minister Huda al-Ban called Wednesday on all educational and media institutions in Yemen and the Arab world to take stances supportive to the woman rights in the essential issues and to unveil types of violence directed against the woman. she also called for facilitating impediments blocking the woman rights to political participation in order to establish comprehension of her different issues in addition to improving knowledge of her needs. She also asked for issuing legislations and decisions for her protection and to toughen punishments against practicing family and social violence against her.

That came in the Minister’s speech she delivered at the opening of the regional conference inaugurated Wednesday in Sana’a under the motto “Together to end violence against the woman”. The Human Rights Minister called on all Arab organisations to organize aware campaigns in order to activate agreements on ending all forms of discrimination against the woman and the necessity of deepening mechanisms of coordination among organisations working in the field of woman rights and exchanging information, especially regarding the efforts exerted for developing a system of laws of personal status.
She stressed that these organisations should give especial attention to the issue related to violence against the woman in addition to exposure of the prejudiced use of religion and legal interpretations in an attempt to give legitimacy to lower status of the woman and called to benefit from religious men to open dialogue with trends that are more open and enlightened. She pointed out that all forms of violence against the woman are considered a major cause in tearing off the fabric of the family and a factor to displacement of children and depriving them of the simplest needs of safe childhood.

The Human Rights Minister said” Despite the noticeable progress achieved for the Yemeni woman in the previous years in all walks of life, the human rights of the woman, as is the case for her Arab sisters, remain the weakest aspects of human rights and most fragile because of a historical heritage curbing the woman’s progress towards equality and depriving her of enjoying the relative gains she got.”

The Minister added among the main indicators of the woman exposure to violence is the violence represented by physical violation against young females. She pointed out that present evidence indicates that the Arab woman, especially in the rural areas, is still exposed to many types of social, family and economic violence and it is embodied by the physical harm, early marriage, deprivation of education, preliminary health care services, imposition of duties heavier than her physiological and psychological capabilities although there are relevant legal texts concerning the achievement of justice and equality between the man and the woman. She said protection of the woman against violence is the essential means for removing the difficulties that restrain development of the woman in various social and legal aspects.

In the same context the chairwoman of Yemen Women Federation Ramziyah Al-Eryany said dissemination of the phenomenon of female circumcision in Yemen is attributed to negative cultural accumulations and ignorance of the society of the legal rights of the woman and confusion between the inherited accumulations and the correct Islamic religion texts.

She has also attributed that phenomenon in Yemen to being acquired from the African migrations, citing that by spread of this phenomenon in the coastal regions. She added that despite the Yemeni government efforts for putting an end to this phenomenon it is still practiced secretly in houses without knowledge of health authorities.

On his part the assistant representative of the UN Fund of Population in Yemen Saleh Bi Al-Sheikh said the violence directed to the woman and girls is unacceptable and will not be tolerated, calling all to join forces in order to change the deep-rooted trends that consolidate the phenomenon of female circumcision.

Encouraging

DHAMAR:

Local council insists on firing officials

May 29 — In a Tuesday’s meeting, the local Council of Dhamar governorate demanded that confidence should be withdrawn from four general managers of executive offices for failing to perform their duties and neglecting issues that are part of their job, Al-Motamar.net quoted local sources as saying. More than 60 percent of the Dhamar local council members insisted on the governor to fire the general managers of health, public works, roads, electricity, and tax offices. The sources indicated that the local council representatives began a campaign this year to monitor and evaluate performance of executive offices.

Almotamar.net – Local sources in Thamar governorate said Tuesday that the local council of the governorate demanded in a meeting today to withdraw trust from four directors general of executive offices for failing in performing their duties and negligence of issues that are part of their specializations.

Sources told almotamar.net correspondent in Thamar that two thirds of the local council members presented a demand to the governor of Thamar calling for the necessity of firing directors general of the offices of health, public works and roads, electricity and taxes.

The sources said the 24-member local council began from the begging of this year a campaign of following up activities of executive offices in the governorate and monitor failures in their performance.

Then there’s the Thomas Paine effect:

(YT) ADEN

Power institutions enraged over anonymous brochures

May 29 — Brochures of unidentified sources lashed out at the Aden Electricity Corporation and Al-Haswa Power Station’s administration and accused them of exercising corruption. This enraged both institutions. Al-Sahwa.net reported that tens of workers at the station distributed the brochures in and outside their worksite, and this led the station’s management to investigate some workers in order to identify the brochures’ sources. The brochures accused the Electricity Corporation of establishing an illumination project for its fence at a cost of YR 50 million.

Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ)
For Self-determination to South Yemeni People
www.tajaden.org

URGENT STATEMENT
(TAJ) alerts the international community to the seriousness of the accelerated
incidents in the South of Yemen.

To
The Secretary-General of the United Nation
The President and members of the UN Security Council
The President of European Commission
The Secretary General of the Arab League
The Secretary General and the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council
The world’s leaders and the international and regional organizations
Peace be upon you

The Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ) would like to draw your attention to the
seriousness of the accelerated incidents in South Yemen in general and in the area of
Almahfad- Abyan governorate in particular.

On 22nd May 2007, which is the day of what so called “unification”, the dictator of
Sana’a Ali Abdullah Saleh and his clan were celebrating in the northern city of Ibb
whereas all governorates of the South were witnessing peaceful demonstrations,
marches and political speeches calling for the end of the Yemeni tribal and military
occupation to our country. They held a big meeting in Hadhramout governorate, in the
city of Mukalla where attended representatives from different regions of the South.
The peaceful demonstration in the city of Dhala was repressed by the troops of the
northern Yemeni occupation and used the life shots; also the demonstration in
Shabwah governorate was oppressed by the security forces of the Yemeni occupying
regime and kidnapped the leader of the Reconciliation and Tolerance Committee Mr.
Naser Thabet Alawlaqi and kept him in the custody for 24 hours. The most serious
thing amongst all these incidents are the armed uprising in the area of Al-Mahfad in
the governorate of Abyan, which is led by the retired officer (forcibly) Saeed
Shahtoor calling for the southern rights and end of the Yemeni occupation to the
South. The uprising is continued and developed dramatically indicating to a bloody
confrontation with occupiers.

The protest in Al-Mahfad is a clear proof to what “TAJ” has warned, that if the
Yemeni regime keep ignoring the southern demands and continuing to implement a
systematic discrimination and oppression; no doubt it will lead to an armed conflict,
which has already started in Al-Mahfad.

The Southern Democratic Assembly “TAJ” would like to remind the international
community about our frequent warns during the last 3 years to the serious
consequences due to continuing Yemeni occupation to our country. We have been
raising or concerns about the unaccepted situation before all bodies that we met or
contacted in the Untitled States, Europe, the Arab league, and all the international
organisations.

The Yemeni arrogant military occupation holds the full responsibility for the
deteriorated situation and for the serious results of its practice in the South. This
uprising is the first spark, which will lead to a bloody confrontation between the
southern citizens and the Yemeni occupiers. No doubt this confrontation will not be
between occupiers and the militants and the citizens in the area of Al-Mahfad only but
it will be spread to different areas in the south as the tension now is in its high level
and no one could foretell its results.

The Southern Democratic Assembly “TAJ” would like to draw the attention of the
International community and ask it to interfere and implement the international law in
supporting our people’s cause in achieving the self-determination and have its own
free state. It is the legal and the moral responsibility of the international community
mainly the Arab and Islamic states to break their silence and denounce the Yemeni
occupation that breaches in a wide scale the South people’s human rights, including
erasing their identity, looting their wealth and properties, depriving them of jobs,
freedom and neglecting their peaceful demands.

We keep repeating or call to the international community to implement 924 and 931
resolutions of the Security Council for 1994, and pressurise the Yemeni occupation to
comply with the international law and conventions. The moment that we have warned
of has already come and it will be too late if there is no immediate international
interfere to sort out the conflict peacefully and fairly.
Southern Democratic Assembly
27th May 2007

موقع صوت الجنوب

http://www.soutalgnoub.com

Good news. Now that they are all collected, what happens to the weapons next?

YT

Pressmen and representatives of several local and international media had an opportunity to access three storage facilities filled with a wide range of arms and weapons which were bought from the public in various parts of the country as a part of an arms-reduction strategy carried out by the Yemeni government. The Interior Ministry has arranged a media tour to the three arm stores in a rare opportunity to attend a showcase of the various types of weapons which were in the hands of regular civilians, tribal sheikhs and clans from around the country. Tens of thousands arm pieces with different types including rare brands made including the latest guns made in the U.S. UK, Europe and China were bought” an Interior Ministry representative, who requested not to be identified, said. (Read on …)

MIlitary still bombing Sa’ada

Al-Sahwa

May 29, 2007-Local sources in Saada province have said to Alsahwa.net that 2 of pro-government tribesmen were killed and 5 were wounded by al-Houthi rebels in al-Saifi area, saada .

The same sources asserted that police could check a rebel’s attack which targeted a government centre.

Meanwhile, government artillery bombardments are still ongoing against the rebels in Sahar area.

The aforementioned sources further said that the al-Houthi loyalists blasted a government building in Amer district as a reaction to the government bombardments against their houses.

(Read on …)

One president said they talked about the Gitmo prisoners; the other said they didn’t. And the American lawyers seem to believe Saleh, despite the fact that none of the Yemeni officials will meet with them:

Yemen Times A delegation of 14 volunteer lawyers representing Yemeni detainees at the U.S. detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, traveled to Yemen to meet with President Ali Abdullah Saleh and relieve the worries of the detainees’ families last Sunday. However, the refusal of security and government officials to meet with them made the chance to release the detainees more complex.

All European detainees at Guantánamo have been released, as have most detainees from other countries, while only eight Yemeni detainees have been released. Yemenis comprise the highest number of detainees, at a third of those remaining.

Martha Payner, an associate clinical law professor at Lincoln Square Legal Service representing four Gitmo detainees, two of which are Yemenis, observed, “Several weeks ago, President Saleh traveled to the U.S. to meet with President [George W.] Bush; however, the issues they discussed weren’t made known to the media or to public opinion in America.

When Saleh returned to Yemen, it was reported in the Yemen Observer that he yearned for the Yemeni detainees’ return. He also indicated that he asked Bush during his visit to return the Yemeni detainees.”

In contrast, Bush remarked that detainees remain at the Guantánamo detention center because their governments are unwilling to receive them, naming Yemen as one such government. According to Payner, “Since Guantánamo Bay, Bush has been blaming others via his political lies.”

Saleh’s remarks encouraged the lawyers because it is a support for them; however, it remains words without action. “The main reason such a high number of Yemeni detainees remain at Guantánamo is due to lack of government support. We need the Yemeni government to push the U.S. government and then, consequently, most of them will be released,” attorney Karma Brown observed. (Read on …)

Update: Regime calls them seperatists

May 29, 2007-Al-Sahwa: The military pensioners in Lahj province have denounced the Defense Minister’s statements in which he accused them of secession. They expressed their worry of those sharp statements, labeling them as irresponsible and illegal. They had demanded through a march arranged on Tuesday to solve their troubles and treating them like the pre- secession war pensioners in term of salaries, professional allowances and ranks.

in theory

Almotamar.net – It is reported Monday that a military committee entrusted with tackling issues of pensioned military men in Yemen has reached an agreement ending pensioners sit-in and settling their financial and administrative situations.

The agreement reached by the committee with military pensioners society on Saturday stipulated giving the society a period of thirty days to gather cases of pensioners financial and administrative grievances and to be delivered to offices of governorates governors and to be presented to concerned departments at the ministry of defence to be studied and decided according to laws and regulations in a short period not exceeding weeks.
(Read on …)

Yemen Times

After Yemen Liquefied Natural Gas (YLNG) selected Shabwa governorate’s Balhaf area for its company’s location, the area’s fishing environment was affected and residents began facing problems related to compensation and laborers’ jobs.

Area fishermen are demanding fair compensation, as they were banned from fishing around Balhaf and kept from their boat shelters in the area surrounding the company.

Although the liquefied natural gas project represents a large portion of Yemen’s income, Balhaf residents stress that their problems should be resolved properly, as the company has affected them greatly, both as fishermen and landowners. For this reason, the firm has implemented a program to provide area fishermen with a replacement fishing environment by installing fish aggregation devices and establishing breakwaters.

However, controversy continues regarding compensating landowners whose properties the company consumed either for construction or extending gas pipelines. (Read on …)

A rather forthright editorial:

Republic of Yemen is not a free country. It is ruled by a cruel system that controls our every day life. Our phones are tapped. Our talk is recorded. Every move is monitored, and every action is registered.

One would think that with such severe security measures, peace and stability would prevail. One would think that order and rule of law would dominate and the judiciary system is above all. Unfortunately this is not true, not even remotely.

Not only are we ruled by the fierce fist of security, we also have no legal rights or justice. Civilians are kidnapped and killed everyday. press is paranoid with self-censorship to the extent that the majority of Yemeni media have become “more royal than the king”, and last but not least, we are living in a state of fear.

Yemenis fear for their lives because of the spread of arms and the absence of law. Yemenis fear for their living because of the deteriorating living standards and soaring prices of basic commodities. They fear for their health because of the enormous risk of catching diseases and the pathetic health care services. They fear for their intelligence because of the ridiculous education and spread of ignorance, not to mention being stoned half the time with Qat.

But most of all, Yemenis fear for their freedom because they are driven into the verge of insanity, always looking behind their shoulder. For at any time, without having a chance to defend yourself, someone could simply accuse you of being a terrorist, an Islamic fundamentalist, a spy of a “friend country” – which by the way the government maintains diplomatic ties with, only it kidnaps and harasses anyone who is suspected of entering its embassy. Someone could accuse you of being a threat to “public security” because of voicing unconventional ideas such as equal citizenship and freedom of expression, and last but not least, the latest fashion is the accusation of being a Houthi follower.

Everyone knows Yemen is a “strategic partner” in the global war against terror. Under the pretext of terrorism everything is possible. After all, everything is allowed in love and war, isn’t it? And who loves us more than our beloved government?

I used to think that we are in a country with a margin of freedom and emerging democracy. I used to look with pride to our recent presidential and local council elections and admire how close we have become to reasonably free elections, especially when I look at the political systems of less fortunate countries.

But, my smile fades when I realise how small this achievement is compared to the undignified life Yemenis suffer everyday. I don’t care if the coming elections are going to be fair and if I am not going to live long to witness them, either because I have starved to death, died of malaria, or lost my sanity because of everything else.

YO

Yemen’s revenues from exported oil declined from $1.45 billion during January-March 2006 to $523.12 million during January-March 2007, dropping 50 percent in the value, according to report published by Central Bank of Yemen. This is largely a result of declining oil production, said the report. Some 9.46 million barrels of oil were produced from January to March of this year, compared with the 17.42 million barrels that were produced during the same time period in 2006. (Read on …)

from the Gulf Times

Iran envoy in Yemen over Zaidi revolt rowPublished: Tuesday, 29 May, 2007, 07:29 AM Doha Time

SANAA: An Iranian government official arrived in Yemen yesterday amid a row with Sanaa over Tehran’s alleged support for a rebellion by the Zaidi community in the north of the country.
Mohamed Jalal Feirouzni, head of the Gulf section at the Iranian foreign ministry, told reporters upon arrival that his visit aims to strengthen ties between the two countries.
A Yemeni official had said earlier that Feirouzni, who had served as Tehran’s ambassador to Yemen between 1990 and 1994, would try to “clarify the Iranian position concerning Yemen’s accusations.”
Yemen’s Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi charged last Thursday that Iran was supporting some rebels belonging to the Shia Zaidi community in northern Yemen.
“We are not against the Shias. We respect them all. But we do want and will not accept their politics to enter into Yemen… or any other country in the region,” he said.
Feirouzni described Alimi’s statement as “strange,” but added that his visit was planned before the remarks were made. (Read on …)

Thats good.

YT

• Sana’a authorities find large quantities of arms and explosives belonging to Al-Qaeda elements

The security authorities found large quantities of arms, grenades and explosives in a Sana’a house, the YUCP-affiliated weekly reported. It quoted security officials as saying that National Security personnel seized the arms, including explosives, hand grenades and missiles after they raided the house located in Al-Khafiji area, east of Sana’a. According to the newspaper, the National Security recruits arrested the house owner, but the investigations revealed that the arms belong to a tenant, who is now hunted by the police.

The security sources weighed that the seized arms belong to Al-Qaeda Organization operatives in Yemen, pointing out that the raid and arrest operations were conducted after thorough intelligence detections, which continued up for one month.

TVNZ: A bomb hidden in a cardboard box in Yemen has exploded, killing a child as school pupils walked past, a government official says.

It is not clear who was behind the attack, on the outskirts of the historic old city of Sanaa, but an investigation is underway.

Another passer-by was wounded in the blast, the official said.

Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, joined the United States-led war against terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the US. It has been the site of several major attacks by al Qaeda-linked groups in recent years.

The government is battling both al Qaeda-linked groups and, separately, Shi’ite Muslim rebels in the north of the country, but bombings are unusual in the capital.

Its complete anarachy

May 21 ,2007 – Yemeni teacher syndicates in al-Dhalie province have condemned what they labeled irresponsible practices committed against teachers by powerful figures .

The so-called Mohammed al-Awdi who has several investments in the province and the brother of the parliamentarian, Abdu al-Awdi , accompanied with gunmen had broken out some schools early of the current week , arrested 5 teachers and led them to the security station of Damt district accusing them of possessing copies of documents which include a ruling had issued against the al-Awdi .

Moreover, he went to their houses, threatened them and tried to assault them with light arms.

For their part, three teacher syndicates expressed solidarity with teachers, calling all teachers in the province to consolidate, stand by their partners and vividly encounter such those assaults.

They also appealed all civil society organizations and the political parties to sustain them according to laws.

News Yemen

The twenty-five prisoners in the Criminal Investigation Department prison have broken the food strike lasted for weeks, but said they will sue the CID for material loses and psychological complications they are suffering in prison due to mistreatment.

They said they had agreed to break the food strike after promises from a sheikh and prosecutor to study their cases to be solved as soon as possible.

The prisoners started the food strike a week ago protesting to keeping them in prison without charges or trial for several months, as they told NewsYemen reporter who visited them in prison.

We are facing offenses that contradict with very simple rules of Yemeni and international laws of human rights. No punishment without trial, but we are spending a term in prison without charge or trial, Ali Qasem al-Shara, one of the prisoners, told NewsYemen.

I lost my right to run for local council election because of this arbitrary detention and the absence of law, so we have chosen May 22, the day of Yemen reunification, a day to fight against depression that Yemeni people fought against it in the past, said al-Shara.

The 25 prisoners have gone on the food strike early last week to pressure the CID to specify charges or refer them to justice to be tried.

Security official, asked for anonymity, told NewsYemen that health condition of the prisoners is getting worse out of food strike.

Some detainees told NewsYemen reporter, who visited the detainees in prison, that they are constantly offended and their freedom “has been confiscated since a year”.

They said they had been detained over different charges and kept in prison without trial or proving charges against them.

News Yemen

Prisoners of conscience:

A leading human rights activist was detained as were relatives of people being sought by the authorities.

• ‘Ali al-Dailami, executive director of the non-governmental Yemeni Organization for the Defence of Democratic Rights and Freedoms, was arrested at Sana’a airport on 9 October as he was about to travel abroad. He was detained at the Political Security prison, where he was held in solitary confinement, until 5 November. His detention was believed to be connected to his human rights work, including on behalf of his brother Yahia al-Dailami (see above).

• Mohammed al-Kazami, aged 15, was reportedly arrested in February and detained without charge or trial at the Political Security prison in Abyan, apparently with the aim of inducing one of his relatives to surrender to the authorities.

• Saddam Hussein Abu Saba’ah, Naif Abdulah Abu Saba’ah and Naji Abu Saba’ah were reportedly arrested in Sana’a on 15 July near to the US Embassy, where they apparently planned to seek asylum. In September, they were charged with “harming the reputation of Yemen” and “insulting the President”.

• Ibrahim al-Saiani, aged 14, was released without charge in March. He had been held since May 2005 when security forces stormed his family home in Sana’a, apparently seeking one of his relatives. While in detention, his health gave serious cause for concern.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, May 26 — The press and those interested in news services provided by GSM companies denounced blocking the news services of Nass Mobile and Without Chains Mobile, respectively telecast by Al-Nass Establishment for Press and Women Journalists Without Chains and provided by Yemen’s MTN telecommunications company. They also denounced the nonstop blocking of Al-Shoura.net and Aleshteraki.net web sites by Yemen’s Telecommunications Ministry. (Read on …)

YO

Prices of basic goods in Yemen have risen by 30 percent since the presidential and local elections last September, said a field study prepared by the Yemeni Association for Consumer Protection, non-governmental organization. In rural areas, prices have risen even more steeply, setting records as the highest prices ever charged in Yemen for these items. Cement has been particularly affected, and its price has risen about 90 percent since September, said the association.

Thus far, nothing has stopped the juggernaut of persistent price increases—not firm government statements, nor orders issued by the various ministries. Some two or three weeks ago, the National Food Council was formed from the various official bodies and the private sector to discuss this issue, control the increasing prices, and propose possible solutions. Yet after the committee met, a new wave of price increases swept the country. The field study prepared by the Yemeni Association for Consumer Protection details the current conditions of prices in the various Yemeni governorates. The prices of the basic consumer goods, including wheat, flour, rice, cooking oil, milk and meat, have risen about 30 percent.

The recent price inflation is an instance of deception and consumer fraud, said economist and professor Dr. Ali al-Faqih of he Faculty of Commerce and Economy in Sana’a University. Worse, the consumers suffer from declining levels of daily income; the annual average income does not exceed about $300 per person. The scholars add that continuing this price inflation, given the increasing rates of poverty among the Yemeni society, will create a broad famine, accompanied with many social problems. Basic goods in Yemen do not come in a variety of brands, so there is a lack of price competition. The consumer is unable to compare the prices of two different brands of flour, for example, and pick the cheapest.

Most of the basic consumer goods found in the rural areas are of poor quality. These areas also lack the most basic services, such as potable water and health services that might encourage people to live and settle down in such areas. Poverty rates, in these rural areas, are still increasing day by day among people to pass more than 80 percent. This means that these areas are particularly hard hit by the dramatic increase in prices.

In the last four months alone, the study found, prices have risen 15 to 20 percent. Specialists from various ministries have been unable to explain the price increases to the press, and many say that the prices are simply responding to the global market, in which prices have also been rising. However, the Minister of Trade and Industry Dr. Yahya al-Mutawakel has said that his ministry will not tolerate such price increases, and plans to take legal action to punish those who manipulate prices for their own gain. Beginning this month, the ministry will also apply standardized price lists, to return the prices to their previous levels.