Armies of Liberation

Yemen Post

Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi has urged donors to pump $ 6 billion in aid to Yemen over the next five years to help it meet the demands of the anti-government protesters and sit-inners. (Read on …)

General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar: the Avis of Yemen

YP: BY DIONNE SEARCEY- Wall Street Journal (For the Yemen Post)
New documents have emerged relating to possible bribery in Yemen by global oil-services giant Schlumberger.
Internal company documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that Schlumberger employees raised concerns in 2008 about payments for cars the company rented from Yemeni government officials at above-market rates—including $6,000 a month for a Toyota Camry and two Toyota Corollas. Employees also cited a contract with customs broker Dhakwan Management Petroleum Co., whose chairman had ties to Yemen’s president. (Read on …)

SANAA – Fuel subsidies and tax evasion are the biggest strains on Yemen’s finances and need to be dealt with swiftly to allow the impoverished country to turn its economy around, the Yemeni finance minister said. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: Yemen has said that it needs $ 44 billion to implement its fourth five-year economic and social development plan for 2011-2015 and urged donors to release their pledges made during the 2006 donor conference in London. (Read on …)

al Sahwa

To read the assessment of the Government’s report on its performance over the past year ..
إقتصادي يمني: الحكومة أضاعت 146 مليار ريال من القروض والمنح Economic Yemen: The government lost 146 billion rials in loans and grants
20/08/2009 الصحوة نت – مصطفى الصبري: 20/08/2009 Sahwa Net – Mustafa Sabri:

انتقد الدكتور/ محمد جبران ـ Criticized Dr. / Mohammed Gibran أستاذ المحاسبة والاقتصاد في جامعة صنعاء ـ تقرير الأداء الحكومي 2008م الصادر عن رئاسة الوزراء والذي قدم لمجلس النواب خلال الشهر الماضي. Professor of Accounting and Economics at the University of Sanaa on the government in 2008 issued by the Prime Minister and submitted to the House of Representatives last month.

وقال جبران: إن التقرير يفتقر إلى المنهجية العلمية والمهنية كما تفتقر الأرقام التي احتواها إلى أي مصدر Gibran said: The report lacks the scientific methodology and professional and lack the numbers to the issues contained in any source
رسمي كبيانات الحساب الختامي، وتقارير الجهاز المركزي للرقابة والمحاسبة، وتقرير البنك المركزي السنوي، وكتاب الإحصاء السنوي. Official data of the final account, and reports of the central control and accounting, and the annual report of the Central Bank, the Statistical Yearbook. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

Informed sources at the Ministry of Electricity revealed that the official launch of the gas-powered station in Mareb will be postponed for few days due to numerous problems. (Read on …)

Yemen Times

The political situation remains challenging. A concerted government campaign has succeeded in suppressing Al-Qaida activities but the group retains the ability to engage in sporadic incidents such as a recent attack on Korean tourists. The Government also reached an agreement with the opposition to delay parliamentary elections for two years, thereby averting a major political crisis. Finally, demonstrations in the South have become less frequent and violent. Concerns remain, however, over the fragile peace accord with the Houthis signed in July 2008, which is threatened by intermittent clashes and mutual accusations of breaches. (Read on …)

A very stark stat that is increasing

Yemen Times To help the over half a million poor Yemenis affected by high and volatile food prices, the United Nations’ (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) is to deliver USD 24 million worth of food aid to eight governorates in Yemen…One in three Yemenis now suffers from chronic hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2008 State of Food Insecurity report…

The WPF office in Yemen conducted a survey in mid-2008 which showed that poor Yemeni families were forced to spend up to 65 percent of their income of food, at the cost of children’s health and education.

The WFP’s emergency relief program in Yemen will target two groups. First, the organization will provide nutritional supplements to under-fives as well as under-twos and nursing mothers in specific districts. Second, it will ensure targeted food distribution to the country’s poorest families as determined by previous surveys.

The hostages were later released…

BBC

Armed Yemeni tribesmen have kidnapped a German engineer and two of his colleagues, a Yemeni gas firm has said.

The incident involving employees of Yemen LNG happened in Shabwa region, east of the capital Sanaa, on Sunday.

One report said the kidnappers had demanded that the authorities release fellow tribesmen from prison.

It is the latest in a string of kidnappings of foreigners by Yemeni tribesmen. In almost all cases, those abducted have been freed unharmed.

On Sunday, a spokesman for the German foreign ministry said he could not confirm the abduction.

“The ministry and embassy are working intensively to try to establish what has happened,” the spokesman said.

“We are in close contact with the Yemeni authorities,” he added.

Yemen Times

Yemen’s economy highly depends on oil resources, with the country’s oil exports accounting for around 85 percent of export revenues and 33 percent of the GDP, according to Oct. 2007 statistics.

These figures indicate how heavily Yemen depends on oil, although the depletion threatens the oil reserves which are estimated at 116,800,000 barrels per year and 320,000 barrels per day, on average in 2007.

Yemeni non-oil exports accounted for about 27 percent of export revenues in 2007, with little improvement from 22 percent in 2006. This information came from Yahya Al-Motwakel, Minister of Industry and Trade, who reported it in the latest National Exports Conference which was held in Sana’a between November 24th and 25th, 2008.

The total revenue of the non-oil exports rose from around twelve billion YR in 2000 to YR 123 billion in 2007, according to Noman Al-Mulsi, secretary general of the Yemeni Export Supreme Council. (Read on …)

2009

YemenOnline. March 11 – The Chambers of Commerce Union of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC officially approved Yemen’s accession to membership of its chambers of commerce.

This step is a reflection of the advanced level of Yemen-Gulf relations and their efforts to integrate the economy of Yemen in the economies of the countries of Arab Gulf Countries, stated Dr. Yahya Al-Mutawakil, Minister of Industry and Trade to Sabanet.
Dr. Al-Mutawakil confirmed that Yemen’s accession to the GCC chambers of commerce will contribute to the promotion of private sector investment of the GCC countries in Yemen, and strengthen the partnership between the businessmen of both sides.

OGJ

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 — Pirates off Somalia have hijacked a second vessel chartered by chemical tanker group Stolt-Nielsen, this time taking the MT Stolt Strength in the Gulf of Aden, despite a coalition of 10 countries, including Russia, that have naval vessels patrolling the waterway.

“The ship was en route to Kandla, India from Senegal and was carrying phosphoric acid,” said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program, which monitors piracy.

According to Mwangura, there were 23 Filipino crew aboard the Philippines-flagged carrier, which is managed by Manila’s Victoria Ship Management and on long-term charter to Stolt Tankers BV.

Seizure of the MT Stolt Strength came nearly 2 months after pirates hijacked the MT Stolt Valor, 60 km off Yemen.

That vessel, which carried 22 crew members, was en route from the Suez Canal to Mumbai and remains in the hands of the hijackers.

Busy, unsafe waterway
The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world’s busiest waterways, with some 20,000 ships passing through each year.

The waterway also is an important energy corridor, especially for Persian Gulf oil westward bound for the Suez Canal or Suez Mediterranean (Sumed) pipeline.

Tankers carrying 3.3 million bbl of oil—about 4% of daily global demand—pass through the Gulf of Aden each day, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The International Maritime Bureau says 199 incidents of piracy or attempted piracy were reported worldwide this year from January to September. Of these, 63 were in the Gulf of Aden or off the Somali coast.

According to Stolt Tankers, charterers of MT Stolt Strength, “the vessel was within the recognized Coalition corridor at the time of the seizure.”

But that is no guarantee of safety, according to IMB, which has issued an urgent warning to ships to take extra measures to deter pirates even while sailing in the corridor patrolled by coalition naval forces.

Yemnn Economic Update is a quarterly report issued by the World Bank consisting several sections, highlighting major political and social and macroeconomic developments. It also covers structural reforms and developments and conferences and donors activities in Yemen.Here are some extracts of the lates report for summer 2008.

Recent global increase in food prices is jeopardizing political stability and aggravating the poverty situation in Yemen.

Yemen, which is a large net food importer (about 75% of food is imported), is facing severe political and social consequences as a result of rising global food inflation. With an estimated 35% of Yemen population living below poverty line, the increase in global food prices, estimated by 60 percent between 2007 and 2008, is likely to have aggravated the poverty situation, particularly for the poor in urban areas, and the landless and small and marginal farmers. Estimates put the number Yemeni who have fallen below the poverty level as a result of recent price increase by at least 6 percent. Spiraling prices and increased poverty is also feeding into increased social tensions and instability in Yemen, with implications ranging from curtailed political freedoms to reactionary measures that will undermine the reform agenda, particularly with respect to reducing public spending on wages, and subsidies on food and fuel. (Read on …)

First report from Mujawar’s government

Yemen Observer:

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar read a statement at a Parliament’s session attended by most of the ministers on the state of the Yemeni economy and the security situation. The report said that Yemen achieved a rate of 3.2 percent in economic growth during 2006, which increased to 3.6 last year, despite the drop in oil production. The non-oil sectors achieved development rates during the two previous years of 4.7 and 5.5 consecutively. (Read on …)

Yemen Observer:

Unemployment in Yemen currently affects around 44 percent of people that have completed middle school and 54 percent of those holding bachelor degrees. It has thus become one of the main obstacles and an important challenge for the national development of the Republic of Yemen, as well as a priority in the Government’s political agenda, both at the regional and the international level. Amat al-Razaq Hummad, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor stressed these facts during the launch of the National Strategy workshop for held in Sana’a last Tuesday. (Read on …)

YT

The skyrocketing prices of wheat, cereals, and other grains have had a tremendous impact on populations reliant on the international markets to supply the needed grains, and Yemen has been affected significantly where the price of a 50-kg sack of wheat has increased from 3300 in the end of 2007 to over 7200 today. This increase affects primarily families which spend most of their income on basic foods and necessities, and now having to stretch their budgets more in order to be able to continue to afford buying the same quantities of food.

In explaining the bigger picture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that the growth in global demand for grains is increasing by 3 %, while production is at lower rates, and have increased to 2.6% this year as grain producing countries slightly increase their grain plantations. This indicates that the gap in supply will continue to push the prices of grain higher, forcing grain importing countries like Yemen to rather pay a bigger bill or start searching for other sources of grain, including reliance on domestic production.
(Read on …)

Lots of official numbers don’t add up. The CBY on the verge of bancrupcy? And a Watani update:

Yemen Post:

In a statement released last Saturday, the Yemeni Commercial Bank (YCB) announced that its 2007 net profits rose to over YR 1.2 billion instead of YR 933 million in 2006.

The bank added the net profit for each share in 2007 was just YR 273 dropping from 365 achieved in 2006, adding its total assets rose to YR 64 billion against YR 41 billion recorded by the end of 2006.

According to the statement, the customers’ deposits increased to reach YR 51.5 billion by the end of 2007 after they were just YR 35 billion during the same period of 2006. Further, the loan interests rose, accounts and treasury bills rose to YR 2 billion against about YR 2 billion recorded by 2006.

Economists doubted the numbers announced by the YCB owned by businessman Mohammed Ali Al-Royishan, one of the senior importers of wheat and flour. They also stressed it is one of four Yemeni banks on the verge of bankruptcy and also expressed their surprise at the announced figures especially with net profits of depositors. (Read on …)

So if Saleh’s son, Ahmed, head of the Republican Guard, was in control of this land, who is Qatari paying paid for the land, the government or Ahmed? Also how did the Republican Guard get 440,000 square meters of land? It was just there? No one owned it? Yemen Post

The General Authority for Investment signed an agreement with Qatari Al-Diyar Company for Real-estate Investment to implement Tilal Al-Rayan project at Faj Attan area in Sana’a.

Built over a total area of 440,000 m2, the project’s total costs are about $500 million and will overlooks most areas of Sana’a.

In the past, the land that will be used for the project was among the locations where building is not allowed and it belongs to the Republican Guard Forces. The project will be implemented as of next April. According to a release by the company, the project will include a five-star hotel, real-estate areas, commercial offices, luxurious villas and residential apartments.

Transparency is one element in fighting corruption, accountability is another.

What is article 104 of the judicial authority? “The most prominent achievement of the project was the amendment of the article number 104 of the judicial authority laws, he added. ”

SANA’A – A National Awareness campaign to stamp out corruption is to be launched, according to Ali Mohammad Al-Anisi, the Director of the President’s Office. Al-Anisa, speaking on Monday at the opening of a three-day workshop in Sana’a to tackle the challenges and problems facing the fight against corruption, said that the slow progress of investigations into some cases of alleged corruption needed to be addressed. He added that the justice system must be provided with modern technology and support as it is crucial in the fight against corruption.

About 180 representatives of different organizations took part in the meeting, which looked at reasons why obstacles had increased in the last period, leading to delays in judgement in cases of public funds cases. The workshop was organized by the Presidency Office, the German development organization GTZ, the Justice Ministry and the Central Organization for Controlling and Auditing (COCA). Al-Anisi stressed the importance of transparency in discussing financial corruption, adding that such issues must be dealt with objectively. He said that the President wanted all efforts to be made to improve cooperation between all those working to protect public funds.

Al-Anisi said that the government must coordinate with donors to inform them f the work being done, and to prepare a national anti-corruption campaign. he first part of the media campaign will be discussed with donors, he said.

The plan includes an awareness campaign following the international
anti-corruption agreement signed by Yemen in Mexico in 2003, and which resident Ali Abdullah Saleh put through Parliament in 2005 as Law No. 47. He said that Saleh had ordered the government to prepare a project to fight orruption, which would then be put before Parliament. He added that Saleh had ordered a detailed plan be prepared looking at the egal framework and foundations to carry out the corruption crackdown. The government has already approved a reform package in January, he added.

The package aims to improve the authority of the law, increase active
prevention of corruption, to improve the administration system and increase political partnership.

The package was also extended to include a clause promoting the extension of women’s participation in political life, and improving investment in education and health.

The most prominent achievement of the project was the amendment of the article number 104 of the judicial authority laws, he added. The government will also work to amend several laws to reform the public funds protection body.

He urged participants to make use of the German experience in tackling
corruption, and to listen to the German experts at the conference, who were offering their professional and successful experience.

Finally, he repeated the concern the political leadership had to improve
partnership and coordination between other countries and international
organization to support national development in Yemen.

Steven Buchwald, the German vice ambassador to Sana’a, said the workshop was the first step towards fighting corruption, adding that the development in Yemeni-German relations were “highly appreciated”.

YO

According to a government report concerning the privatization of institutions during the year 2004, the government announced it would continue the process by privatizing 15 additional factories that are suffering from economic stagnation in an attempt to revitalize the economy.
The report, the first of its kind, indicated that the privatization process that began has not been successful. Only two of the five companies that were privatized managed to do so successfully. The efforts to privatize two companies (Company for the Production and Marketing of Salt and Company for the Production of Paint) did not go as planned. They were supposed to be transformed into two companies where the workers share in the revenues. (Read on …)