Armies of Liberation

The GPC created an “opposition” coalition (including the Baath party which is headed by the President’s nephew*) in an effort to undermine the JMP. (The JMP although partially co-opted is partially not). However the new opposition are all regime allies who have come together under the lovely name “National Democratic Coalition”. Do we think the international community and western press will fall for this latest slight of hand? Maybe.

Saba News

PGC, opposition parties sign political coalition document

SANA’A, July 23 (Saba)- Ruling party People General Congress (PGC), Parties of National Council for Opposition, al-Ba’ath Arab Socialist National Party, Yemeni Association Party and Democratic September System signed on Wednesday a strategic political coalition document.

Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who signed the coalition document, called the National Democratic Coalition, for PGC part, expressed his great pleasure for holding this meeting that represents strategic political trend for serving national aims and Yemeni two revolutions’ goals.

The coalition document’s items included a number of public norms that stipulate on grasping Islam as a faith and legislation, protecting national bases toped by republican system, revolution and unity, and implementing law and constitution.

The document also affirms facing calls for separatism, sectarianism, regionalism and tribalism, and fighting all forms of false political and intellectual mobilizations harming national unity as well as fighting violence, extremism, terrorism, organized crime, all forms of hatred and seditions among Yemeni citizens and working on keeping social security and peace.

The document stipulates on activating role and activities of cultural, thinking, educational and information institutions in stabilizing unity, democracy and social justices as well hating violence, separation and hatred for improving national enlightenment among the people.

In addition to a number of mentioned conditions above and others, the parties have agreed on regulating parties law, especially committees, financial resources and bases of distributing government support among them.

*Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, head of the Central Security Forces, is president Saleh’s nephew. He is also the secretary general of the Yemeni Baath Party, according to the Yemen Observer, and hosted a condolences service after Saddam Hussain’s execution. Yahya Saleh heads an organization dedicated to supporting the Lebanese and Palestinian causes with charitable contributions, the Yemeni Public Committee to Support the Resistance. A symposium at Sanaa University organized by the Yemeni Popular Committee to Support Palestinian, Lebanon, Iraqi Resistance featured Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, head of the Iraqi Muslim Scholars Association, who is wanted in Iraq for colluding with insurgents, At the symposium in December 2006, Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, “praised the Iraqi resistance that could prove itself and cause loses to the occupation forces. He considered the siege imposed by the US on Iraq as a clear example of the hostility of the US and its allies,” al-Motamar, website of the GPC reported. Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh is also chairman of the Yemeni Society of Tourism and Travel Agencies. And he’s head of the Progress and Advancement Forum.

Mareb Press

Yemeni Interior Minister Rashad Al Alimi has said the ongoing violent protests in southern provinces are receiving support from outside.

Those behind the protests were “just a few of demagogues and rabble-rousers” who are backed by some Yemenis living abroad, the minister said in a report submitted to the parliament, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News.

The minister also said that the opposition media have contributed to stirring up the riots and violence.

Absence of a dialogue over political issues between the opposition and government, as well as the high poverty and unemployment rates, were also among the reasons behind the violent protests, according to the report.

MP Abdul Kareem Shaiban said that the riots were the result of accumulation of political crises since 1994. “Some government officials have held up a lot of lands in the southern governorates,” the MP said.

“Tens of thousands of southerners who were in the Army and university professors were ousted from their posts after the civil war of 1994,” he added during the parliament session.

Meanwhile, a group of activists and politicians mostly from opposition organised a demonstration at the gate of the cabinet while it was holding its weekly meeting. They demanded the release of the activists who were arrested in the protests.

Targeted: Six hurt in Bomb attack

Six soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack on their checkpoint in a town in south Yemen where violent job protests have raged for 10 days, a security official said.

“Two of them are in a critical condition … They were wounded in an bomb attack,” the official said. Fifteen people suspected of involvement in the attack are being questioned.

Playing the religion card, again.

Bajammal warns against apostate cultures & political corruption
Saturday, 09-February-2008
almotamar.net - The Secretary General of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Abdulqader Bajammal on Saturday warned of the danger of ideological and cultural apostasies which he described as extremely reactionary and extremely negative thought and extremely nihilistic mentalities. He said, “We face at present souls packed with rancour and envy to a destructive degree and rather reached to self- destruction,” affirming that the homeland, with all of its great meanings, is not part of calculations of these mentalities.

Mr Bajammal also warned against the danger of branch cultures that grow the same way as parasites and pointed out that there are sick mentalities promote for those cultures with all their hostility and darkness that do not see anything in life.

Addressing the opening Saturday of the training course organised by Al-Mithaq Institute for journalists of the GPC over ten days, Bajammal said the most dangerous thing for Yemen is the political, cultural corruption as well as corruption resulting from branch cultures with all their sense of promoting for regionalism, sectarianism and tribalism. He considered that the most corrupt one in this country are those possessing psychological and ideological darkness who promote for this nihilistic thought in a country endeavouring for enhancing and consolidating its national unity.

Mr Bajammal said, ” The big part in disclosing the elements of corruption lies in the Yemeni society that is founded on basis of social solidarity because without social solidarity is an element of corruption.”

The GPC Secretary General also called for encountering this destructive thought with thought based on enlightened dialect and moderate thought. He stressed that the training course should have active dialect and discussions between the political and ideological and cultural leaderships on the one hand and the GPC media leaderships on the other. He said,” If such large dialect does not take place between the political, cultural and media leaderships, we in such a case make a blocked road for the meeting of the elements of knowledge and it is absolutely not possible to present knowledge in its form however mature it were or however its correctness was responsive or presented in a good way.” He added that “We are facing great challenges and have to deal with them in a different from the previous logic because if we deal with them in that same logic we will not attain to any decision.” He said there is no more difficult decision that the GPC decision to be the leader of the society and the state and that is the most difficult of options and challenges that face “us and that should be realized by all those who undertake this responsibility.”

Bajammal also urged the media leaderships and press of the GPC to seek credibility and commitment to concepts of democracy, the freedom of expression and respect of human rights. Bajammal cited how some were sceptical of the decency of the UN Organisation that granted him recently the award of Earth Champions for 2008.

Political passivity in exchange for re-patriation

Al-Motamar

almotamar.net - Assistant secretary General for Political Affairs and External Relations of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Sultan al-Barakani has Wednesday expressed his welcome of return home of the political personalities living abroad bur affirmed non-existence of justification for opposition abroad.

Al-Barakani said in a country under pluralism it is shameful to talk about the outside opposition and ” Personally I cannot call them opposition because he who considers himself an opponent he has to practice opposition from inside Yemen and as for connection with certain regimes or intelligence apparatuses abroad or does an information work meant for reaching some ambitions they are not called opposition as long as the rule or the constitution has guaranteed to all the practice of their right inside the country, so what is the justification of the presence of opposition outside?”

(Read on …)

Amazing.

Al-Sahwa

January 26, 2008 – All official offices in Hadhramout province started Saturday comprehensive strike, responding to a call by the Hadhramout branch of the Public Alliance of Worker Associations.

In a statement, the Public Alliance of Worker Associations of Hadhramout said that the strike would go on until demands are met.

bwahahaha

I like especially the Greenpeace party and the clone of the PFU.

al-Motamar: GPC meets with “Oppposition”

The meeting grouped leaderships of political parties and organisations of the GPC, Sons of Yemen League, Arab Baath Socialist , September Democratic Organisation, Yemeni Unionist Assembly, People’s Unionist Liberation, Social Greenpeace , People’s Democratic, Liberation Front Party, Democratic Union of People’s forces, Nationalist Social Party and People’s Unity Party.

Tending toward a one party state continues

almotamar.net - In a dialogue session on Saturday presided over by the General People’s Congress (GPC) Secretary General Abdulqader Bajammal, 13 Yemeni political [parties and organisations affirmed their commitment to what had been signed in the agreement of principles which was signed by political parties and organisations in June 2006 concerning the supreme commission for election, stressing their keenness on importance of adhering to the constitutional and legal principles and political action.

The dialogue meeting on Saturday has discussed a proposal for amending article 19 pertaining to the financial support and assistance of the political parties and organisations for strengthening their situations and allotting of no less than 25% of government allocations to be distributed on equal basis among all the parties and distribution of the 75% according to the votes that each party has gained in the latest parliamentary elections.

The meeting also discussed a suggestion on amending article 13 regarding the formation of the parties and organisations committee. The discussion also included a new proposal on re-formation of the political parties and organisations’ committee and the proposal demanded that the parties committee should be composed of seven members chaired by the state minister for the affairs of the parliament and the shoura council and the membership of two members chosen by the Supreme Judiciary Council, two members selected by the shoura council and two members chosen by the lawyers union.

The meeting has also discussed a proposal of amending article 9 so that the article should be drafted in a way achieving larger concept and bigger practice of democracy and internal life of the political parties and organisations and on condition that all political parties and organisations should play educational and training role for development of concepts and visions in the democratic work and activities inside the parties in particular and the political life in the country in general.

A statement Of the Aggression on the Scholar Mohammed Moftah, and Demanding Releasing Him.

Yemen Organization of Defending Rights and Freedom is denouncing the violation that he was exposed to the Zaidien Scholar Mohammed Meftah from the Central security’s men, on 28 th December 2007, and detain him in the Security of Sana’a province, in Raodha St till moment.
The men of Central Security attached his car after his participation in commemorate the Ghadeer in the Hatarish area in Bani Heshesh. They tried to beat him, but the National Security intervenes not to, some of National Security men were injured defending scholar Mohammed Meftah’s safety.
The Organization send the National Security their regards, in the same time the Organization denounced the Central Security reacts, and demand all the Orgs and Institutions that concerned in Human Rights to intervene in releasing him immediately and exert pressure on making a fair investigation in that occurrence, as the Org demanding all the Orgs and Institutions to make a stable and serious position toward these detentions that threaten the freedom of expressions and religion to the generation of Zaidism believers, these threatens that conflict with the lows and roles and international agreements that accepted from Republic of Yemen.
Published of Yemen Org of Defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms.
Thursday 27th December 2007.

Amnesty International Year End Report 2006: • Zaidi clerics Yahia al-Dailami and Mohamed Miftah, both outspoken critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq, were released in May apparently after receiving presidential pardons. The former had been sentenced to death after an unfair trial in 2005, the sentence later being commuted by the President to a prison term. The latter had been serving an eight-year prison term. Both were prisoners of conscience. Muhammad ‘Ali Luqman, a Zaidi judge serving a 10-year prison sentence, was also pardoned by the President and released in May.

Yemen Times:

SANA’A, Dec. 26 — Five years have passed since the politically-motivated assassination of Jarallah Omar, Assistant Secretary General of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP). The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) laments his loss, as he played the most vital role in forming the opposition bloc.

Had Omar escaped assassination, the opposition bloc’s popularity would not have declined over time, since the man proved vital in bringing all the opposition parties together and unifying their lines, according to Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi, defense-advocate of Jarallah Omar’s family.

Al-Mekhlafi said there were political reasons behind the assassination of the YSP leader; the authority predicted that he was bound to play a greater role in creating strong opposition to the ruling party in the country. “Had Jarallah Omar survived, all the Yemeni people would not have suffered such noticeable fragmentation and splits, as he used to do his best for the sake of restoring the spirit of solidarity among Yemeni people.” The lawyer added, “He surely would have worked hard on eliminating all the negative consequences of the 1994 civil war. He was able to improve and strengthen relations between citizens in the north and the south.”

Al-Mekhlafi went on to say. “Omar was a symbol for a nationwide movement toward creating national harmony in the political and social spheres. He represented YSP, a party that has advocated strong bonds between citizens in South and North Yemen since its formation.”

The human rights activist stressed that the Yemeni people currently live in a state of outrage, characterized by severe poverty, despair and fragmentation between community members. He is of the opinion that the country is gradually moving backwards due to government policies aimed at weakening the role of the opposition.

(Read on …)

I think Hamid is exactly what Yemen needs: a young, modern educated businessman. He’s got the national name recognition and the Southerners might trust him enough to give him a chance.

from the Yemen Times:

The Strong Man of Yemen

Hameed bin Abdullah bin Hussein Al-Ahmer, now at the age of 40, has become one of Yemen’s most influential men. This huge achievement is only partially due to being born into one of Yemen’s most powerful families—Al-ahmer family of the Hashed tribal confederation. His father Abdullah bin Hussein Al-Ahmer, was and still is the paramount leader of the Hashid confederation. Senior Al-ahmer is still, at least nominally, the Speaker of the Yemeni House of Representatives (HR). He is also the most respected living revolutionist. For more than four decades, senior Al-ahmer has been known as the presidents’ maker and breaker, but he never sought the highest office for himself.

Hameed Al-ahmer was born in an era of turmoil not only in north and south Yemen but also in the Arab world. In less than a decade, senior Al-ahmer lost his father and a very bright brother to the cause of political change. In addition, the battle between the republicans and the royalists was still raging. In such a political environment, Hameed was named after his politically ambitious, popular, and talented uncle, who was executed by the Imam.

While it was extremely rare for the sons of sheiks to worry about education during the 1970s and the 1980s, Hameed had a personal inclination to education. It was something inside him that led the son of this powerful, albeit traditional, family to educate himself to the best possible. As a youth, Hameed would travel to the U.S to spend summers where he would stay with an American family in order to learn English.

In the early 1990s, Hameed, who is now a fluent speaker of English, attended Sana’a University and earned a bachelor degree in economics with honors. Like his other brothers, Hameed must have enjoyed the support of his rich and powerful family. Unlike his brothers and most sons of Yemeni sheiks, however, he opted for the hard way in life.

One of his professors privately conveyed to the author that he used to double check Hameed’s exams to search for mistakes. The professor was afraid that people would not believe that a son of sheik Al-ahmer would get a full grade in an economic course. One of the students who attended school at that time said that Hameed, who would usually be followed with many armed bodyguards, would reach the gate of the College of Trade and Economics and hand over his small gun to the university police in order to keep it for him until he picks it up on his way out from classes.

The late professor of economics at Sana’a University and the founder and then publisher of the Yemen Times Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf interviewed Hameed, the young entrepreneur, in one the early issues of Yemen Times. That interview reflected a professor’s fondness of a young man who seemed keen on making a difference in the life of his country and people. But late professor Al-Saqqaf himself might not have thought that Hameed in a few years over a decade would become one of Yemen’s most achieving businessmen, owning icons such as Sabafone—a cellular telecom with more than a million and a half subscribes—the Islamic Bank of Saba, and at least a dozen other businesses.

But Hameed is not only a brilliant businessman. He is also a courageous, diligent, innovative, and goal oriented politician. Capitalizing on the power and influence of his family, Hameed was elected to the Yemeni HR for the first time in 1993, reelected in 1997 and again in 2003. It is worth noting that while Hameed’s older brother—Saddiq—remained politically independent and his younger brother Hussein joined the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC), Hameed from the onset ran on the ticket of the party presided over by his father—the Yemeni Congregation for Reform—which is known by its short Arabic name Islah (meaning reform).

It was no coincidence that Hameed would find himself after a decade and a half of multi-partisan politics as one of the top leaders of Islah which is unequivocally the largest opposition party in the country. It is very likely that senior Al-Ahmer, a father of many sons and daughters, and one of the most shrewd politicians in today’s Yemen had saw in Hameed—his second son—what it takes to inherit his father’s powerful political role. It is also worth noting that the rise of the political star of Hameed has paralleled the gradual withdrawal of senior Al-ahmer from political life partially due to deteriorating health conditions.

Whereas senior Al-Ahmer has been most of the time out of the country for treatment and rehabilitation over the past few years, junior Al-ahmer has been calling the shots in his father’s place. While not outsider to politics, Hameed’s rise to the nation’s top rank of outspoken politicians took place in the last three years. His acquisition of an important political role coincided with many developments in the Yemeni political scene. For one, the old alliance between senior Al-ahmer and President Saleh started filtering. The immediate causes are many but the single, and probably most significant long-term cause, is a struggle over power among the younger generation of the Hashid confederation. For another, senior Al-ahmer as said earlier has been gradually withdrawing from public life partially for health and partially for political reasons.

And, regardless of the causes of the rift between senior Al-ahmer and President Saleh, politics in Yemen seems to have dramatically changed over the past few years thanks to Hameed’s entrepreneur skills, political ambition, and determination. It is widely believed that Hameed has played a vital role in solidifying the opposition’s stand against Saleh in September 2006 presidential elections. At that time, Saleh, with no signs of credible competitor in the horizon, had hoped for a smooth renewal of his term in office. To his dismay, junior Al-ahmer surprised him with a fierce elections’ battle that attracted the attention of friends and foes.

While accompanying the Joint Meeting Parties’ presidential candidate engineer Faisal bin Shamlan in his camping trail across Yemen, Hameed seemed to have redefined the contemporary politics of Yemen. He proved the old slogan of tribal politics, which states “my nephew and I are against the outsider,” to be inaccurate. The most telling moment, probably in the politics of modern Yemen, occurred in the summer of 2006 when Hameed with the support of some of his brothers mobilized tens of thousands of Hashid’s tribesmen for the opposition parties’ presidential candidate bin Shamlan’s campaign stop in the city of Amran to the north of the capital of Yemen—Sana’a.

It is true that Saleh is the one who decided to shift from the politics of consensus to the politics of competition. It is truer, however, that junior Al-ahmer is the one who defined what the politics of competition looks like today and will look like in the future. And, while the door for reconciliation of differences among the younger generation of Hashid is not completely closed, the likelihood of reconciliation and a return to the politics of consensus seems remote. The best the sons of Hashid can hope for in the future is not the impossible return to the politics of consensus, but the attainable goal of acceptance of the right and legitimacy of the role of each other.

Hameed, who is widely perceived among the opposition—specially the youth—as their strong man, repeatedly asserts that he is ready for the long haul of political competition and struggle. In response, the regime has been keen on targeting him. Since he openly started opposing Saleh’s rule and policies and calling for deeper and comprehensive political reforms, the regime has reacted hastily, using state institutions, resources, and public media outlets to undermine his flourishing businesses, and to tarnish his reputation. But despite being subjected to all types of harassment, Hameed seems to be undeterred. In a recent interview, Hameed, an optimist and a strong motivator, told his supporters and opponents too that he is ready to pay the price for the cause he believes in.

Some of Hameed’s friends, however, fear for his life. One of his proponents wrote a long article in 2005 asking “will Hameed become the Harairi of Yemen?” referring to assassinated businessman and prime minister of Lebanon Mr. Rafiq Al-harairi. For those who know him well, the fate of his late uncle at the hands of the Imam raises a legitimate concern.

Unlike his friends, Hameed prefers to look at the bright side of events. After all, the heinous murder of his ambitious uncle and grandfather led his father to mobilize the Hashid tribes, normally supporters of the Imam, to the side of the revolution when it broke out in north Yemen in 1962. The efforts of his father, family, and tribesmen eventually led to the permanent demise of the Imamate’s 11 centuries’ rule. “We are now better off” said Hameed, in a recent interview, comparing the conditions of opposition leaders today to those of the 1960s revolutionaries in the southern and northern parts of Yemen.

The author is a professor of politics at Sana’a University. For comments, please email the author at: dralfaqih@yahoo.com

Dear honorable brother Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic of Yemen -Sana’a

In the beginning at the outset, he was unable to confirm any Yemeni, you can deny a senior maker Yemeni unity of goals and the great dream of the Yemeni people, as entered history from the wider doors, we encourage you to go back to the date for step duties, which have become a burden to you as a president.

And our right to the blood and prevention, the collapse and destruction of the homeland that I loved to the point of passion .

The love of good for your family, and let us be frank with you to what is happening today of problems and strife and painful events that are the result of natural alliances with former friends , which have left you for all these years in power, we know well the requirements and necessities of politics, but the case today has increased the reduction and has crossed the line.

You are trying by all means to create the referee son Ahmed and this insults the Yemeni revolution and the republican system, which I was one of the revolution and supporter and we’ve said and repeated, in mind that the governance referee or any one in your family or friends can be president but only after a period of time, at least what has happened in the past in more than one country and across the world and by the real presidential elections. There is no party that covers its costs from the State Treasury without the others.

Mr. President, Yemen is a country of safety, faith and wisdom and the majority opinion which will not be a country of deception and prevarication and the violation of privacy. Our country is rich and thankful to God but what happens today only deliberate impoverishment. Hearts led to acrimony and undermine and the values of ethics and morality but what has happened to day almost turned Yemen into a jungle and turned its people into carnivores eating each other.

Mr President, Yemen’s trust and its people are in your hands. Deliver the trust to who may take care of it. We will continue to remind you as long as we live, we will remind you this deed which will be remembered and appreciated by the world . Those that only the brave will be able to overcome; you are one of them no matter what differences are between us. If you don’t accept this offer the people will decide between us by a petition of signatures. God is judging, God is judging, God is judging.

Sincerely,

Abdallah Salam Al-Hakimi
Yahya AL-Hothy
Dr. Mohammed Al-Nommani
Dr. Farook Hamza
Omar Ali
Fathi Al-Katta

List of Requests

1-Call to amend the Constitution to be a period of only two presidential term of four years each.

2-Ask President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down from power saving people and to prevent the collapse and destruction of the country. For what is happening today is the result of natural alliances with former friends, which has kept all these years in power and made way for the government to save and prepare for the national presidential elections real party is not taken without other costs from the public offers of the State based on the terms of the initiative launched by the government rescue by brother Abdullah Salam Al-hakimi last October.

3-Call to end the rule of the family and to prevent the abolition of inheritance and the Republican Guard and Special Forces.

4-Call for a peaceful strike upward leading to the open site.

5-Emphasis on upholding unity Yemeni territory and its people, whether it’s Sanaa or Aden to alienate the sovereignty and independence of the homeland.

6-Call to all Yemenis opponents to return to the homeland to contribute to the building of a new Yemen and closing all files.

7-Invitation to the opposition parties not to accept any initiative that may be offered by the regime that will shortly be destructed, because of their acceptance they will be offered a lifeline.

8-Invite leaders of the army and the police and intelligence services that they are not to be suppressed against fellow claimants of the peaceful Yemeni’s that ask to reform freedom and equal citizenship.

Email: yemenaftersaleh@yahoo.com

Dear honorable Mr. Ban Ki Mun Secretary General of the United Nations New York.

We know very well that you are fully informed of the bad and deteriorating situation in the Republic of Yemen because of corruption irresponsible use of the State Department and the looting of resources and deliberate impoverishment of the people by President Ali Abdullah Saleh and members of his family and his staff.

The transformed the values of the Yemeni society and the flagrant violation of the rights of citizens and democracy, which we believed in the reunification of Yemen in 1990, and the creation of the country to bequeath his son governance and the governance transition which we will not accept and will stand in the face, whatever the sacrifices of Yemen’s republican country. As we have said before and we will repeat that we will not allow that the candidate’s son or one of his relatives for the post of President but not immediately. At least after some time has passed in more than one country in the world.

We would like to emphasize that we call on President Saleh to reinstate the document Covenant and Agreement, which was signed in 1994 in the Jordan’s capital, Amman by all political parties and organizations. Yemeni basis for comprehensive reconciliation in Yemen and equal citizenship ask you finally to inform the donors of aid to Yemen from the countries and organizations because they do not go the right way. But unfortunately has become one of the factors of corruption.

Attached to the letter is a copy of the rescue program announced in last October published in a number of Yemeni and Arab newspapers and on a list of demands.

Sincerely,

Abdallah Salam Al-Hakimi
Yahya AL-Hothy
Dr. Mohammed Al-Nommani
Dr. Farook Hamza
Omar Ali
Fathi Al-Katta

Dear honorable Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO Secretary General

The urgent appeal to you asks you to intervene and stop the rapid tampering destruction, and mutilation which affects effects in Yemen, which is considered the property of the civilization of mankind as a whole. Including ancient Sera Castle (Castle Reduced ) in the city of Aden, which dates back to the built-General 1173 during the rule of Alaopein to Yemen, where the where looting the spread of the land in the southern and eastern provinces which are without any right and in retaliation to the mountain, which lies above the castle which may disappear soon.

Sincerely,

Abdallah Salam Al-Hakimi
Yahya AL-Hothy
Dr. Mohammed Al-Nommani
Dr. Farook Hamza
Omar Ali
Fathi Al-Katta

Rescue Initiative

First: the establishment of a National Council of Wise men which consists of a number that does not increase the amount of 35 personal dignitaries and national inhabitants with concerns of the nation and its citizens, who have visions and projects to bring the country out of its crisis, wthout excluding anyone under the pretext of separatism or regionalism, racism or sectarianism, respect of this Council and in particular the following major tasks:

- Develop a national comprehensive formula which contains solutions to the conditions of the country based on a Covenant and Agreement as the only national document that achieve national consensus around the universal commitment, respected and confirmed by the Security Council resolutions on the war in 1994 and mean to the Covenant document and the agreement on rebuilding its political system and its institutional States with modernarity which turned a blind eye to things and issues which timely received them.

-Achieve wide and local government authorities and the full powers without any diminution and reaffirm the right of each province or territory or region in the election of all executives from among the sons except military affairs only with other provisions.

- Develop a formula whereby redistribution of national wealth on the basis of fairness and equality among all regions of the country.

-Formation of a national committee of wise men with the possibility of the use of Arab and international expertise for the preparation of the draft for the new constitution in line with the overall national solution formula established by the Council of Wise men and downloaded to the national debate and broad and popular approval through a referendum in lieu of the current Constitution, which has become too large of amendments in response to the personal whims and ambitions of individuals until it is no color or taste

Second: formation of a government of national saving and the National Council of Wise men of proposed names of its members and its main duties restricted as follows:

- Numbers and full preparation for the holding of local elections and parliamentary and presidential elections during the period of time does not exceed the two years including the proposed draft of a new law for elections which achieves fairness, impartiality and transparency approved by the Council of Wise men and purifies the table voters from corruption, forgery and requests supervision over local civil society organizations and international supervision to ensure full integrity Elections, impartiality and transparency in other words, the major task of the government of national salvation elections

- Develop plans which are urgent and effective steps to address the imbalances of the political, financial, administrative, judicial, economic and radical solutions to the fight against corruption genuine, and not cosmetic as it exists now and the elimination of all forms of legal transgressions of others that have occurred in the past in all areas

- National Salvation government granted full powers and authority executive powers including the transfer of executive powers enjoyed by the President to this government so that there are limited responsibilities of the President during the ceremonial functions and protocol as is the case in the parliamentary system and prevents it interfering in any way the work of the function,power and authority government of the National Salvation.

ADEN, NewsYemen: Head of Coordination Council for Retired Military Personnel Associations in southern Yemen Nasser al-Nobah revealed the intention of the council to declare a civilian defiance in southern provinces starting January 19, the date Britain occupied southern Yemen.

In a rally organized Monday in Yahr area of Yafei, al-Nobah addressed hundreds of people that the council is studying this step. “In case you are ready, we will step a new form of peaceful struggle, that is the civilian defiance,” said al-Nobah.

The rally was attended by representatives of Joint Meeting Parties, MPs and leading personalities.

Brussels, NewsYemen

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged Yemen’s President to dismiss terrorism charges against journalist A. Karim Al Khaiwani who is facing trial after he received photographs of a remote region closed to journalists from a supporter of a group that the government considers violent.

“By dismissing this case, you will send a clear message that independent journalism is protected by your administration and that journalists can cover the news without fear of facing charges in connection with their reporting,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said in a letter to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Al Khaiwani is awaiting trial on terrorism charges stemming from his contact with the a supporter of Zaidi-Shiite Leader Badr al-Deen al-Houthi in Saada, who gave him some photographs of the remote region that has been the location of fighting between the government and al-Houthi’s group.

Al Khaiwani is a well-known journalist who has been critical of the government in the past.

The IFJ is backing its affiliate, the Yemen Journalists’ Syndicate, in its support of Mr. Al Khaiwani and its call that the charges against him are dropped.

source:www.ifj.org

Yemen Times

We will inevitably return to Yemen, says former Prime Minister in exile

The former Yemeni Prime Minister, Haidar Abu Bakr Al-Attas, who is currently in exile along with other Socialist Party leaders in Oman, confirmed that he and his companions will inevitably return to Yemen, the weekly reported in a front page story. “Whenever we see positive reflections with regard to resolving the persisting problems and ending the nationwide standoff, we will return home,” the newspaper quoted Al-Attas as saying. The YSP leader, who is the first Prime Minister after the Reunification was established on May 1990, urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to care for his country and people.

According to Al-Attas, politicians existing inside the country are responsible for the current standoff and the deteriorating situations of the country. “We want to restore justice to our brothers in Yemen, as it is they who are in the field and it is they who endure constant sufferings produced by the government’s failed policies,” Al-Attas said.

Such statements made by Al-Attas, who has been in exile sine the 1994 Civil War, come as a response to President Saleh’s call on opposition leaders abroad to return home while giving his address before thousands of people on the 40th Anniversary of the National Independence Day. Yemeni media quoted sources closer to the ruling General People Congress as saying that Saleh’s call is addressed to the former Vice-President Ali Salem Al-Beidh, Al-Attas and other YSP leaders, who fled the country in 1994.

Aafaq

(Sanaa and Damascus – Aafaq) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has called for the exiled leaders of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party to return to Yemen, “with the exception of those whose hands were stained with blood,” an expression seen to refer to former southern president, Ali Nasser Mohammed. [Full Story in Arabic]

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HARADH, NewsYemen

The Yemeni authorities did not allow sheikh Yahya Hussein al-Dailami, assistant secretary-general of the Al-Haq party, to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform pilgrimage in Mecca and stopped him Wednesday morning in Haradh that borders the Kingdom.

Yahya was heading for the Holy Lands to perform pilgrimage, but forces in the military checkpoint in Haradh detained him and handed him over to the political security which took him to unknown place, said Ali al-Dailami, brother of Yahya and the executive director of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms.

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If the people already inside Yemen were given an opportunity to express their political rights without retribution, then maybe people from abroad would return. But transfering teachers who demonstrate and charging al-Khaiwani with terrorism for *writing* and deploying tear gas against demonstrators in Aden really doesn’t give a good impression of the freedom to be politically active. Political passivism is encouraged and political activism punished. While Saleh was giving this speech about pluralism, citizens traveling to the demostration in Aden were beaten and one was killed. The speech also contains a thinly veil to anyone not

President calls on politicians abroad to return home

[29 November 2007]

ADEN, Nov. 29 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Yemeni politicians abroad to return home, especially those who has not abused the people and the country, and to take part in the
political action in Yemen.

During a speech delivered in a big carnival held Thursday in the 22nd May Stadium in Aden on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Independence Day on November 30, President Saleh said that politicians have the right to practice political action but without prejudicing to the unification of the country, excluding “those who did so, their files are still open”. He also rejected all kinds of
violence and conspiracies.

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Al-Sahwa:

November 19, 2007 -Security forces of Abyan province arrested on Monday scores of political activities leaders and participators of a popular massive rally in Loadr district.

In other words, hundreds of al-Dhali governorate liberators and martyrs families rallied to take part in a foundational meeting to elect a liberation association of liberators and martyrs families.

Assaulting Lawyers, just like Pakistan

Aden lawyers protest against increasing security attacks November 19, 2007 -Aden lawyers have denounced increasing security attacks against them, demanding, in the main time, to hold the involved policemen who arrest orders had issued against accountable.

The Secretary-General of Aden Lawyer Syndicate, Saleh Deban, said that the protest was arranged due to the arrogance of security men who lately assaulted the advocates Najeb al-Jahafi and Walid Mohram , members of ALS. He added that infringements against attorneys were increasingly repeated by security men, asking Aden’s authority to impose the law and constitution against the involved according to law.

More from the mail bag, from Fathi Al-Katta at Yezen.net:

Government rescue calls in favor of a national rule STEP

كندا “أخبار الساعة” - خاص Canada “news hour” special -
علم من مصادر خاصة بأن مجموعة من المعارضين اليمنيين ينظمون لعقد اجتماع قريبا في إحدى العواصم الأوربية وذلك لمناقشة وإعلان مطالب شعبية تم الاتفاق عليها بصورة مبدئية ومع إمكانية إضافة المزيد عند الاجتماع، ومن هذه المطالب: Learned from private sources that a group of Yemeni opposition to organize a meeting soon in one of the European capitals to discuss the Declaration of popular demands had been agreed upon initially and with the possibility of adding more at the meeting, and these demands:

1- الدعوة لتعديل الدستور بان تكون مدة الرئاسة فترتين فقط مدة كل منهما أربع سنوات و مطالبة الرئيس علي عبد الله صالح التنحي عن الحكم حقنا للدماء ومنعا لانهيار وتدمير الوطن ، فما يحدث اليوم هو نتاج طبيعي لتحالفاته السابقة مع أصدقاء الأمس والتي أبقته كل هذه السنوات في السلطة وإفساح المجال لحكومة إنقاذ وطنية تتولى التهيئة لانتخابات رئاسية حقيقية لا يؤخذ حزب دون غيره تكاليفها من الخزينة العامة للدولة. 1-call to amend the Constitution to be a period of only two presidential term of four years each and demanding that the President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down from power injections of the blood and prevent the collapse and destruction of the country, what is happening today is the result of natural alliances with former friends yesterday, which kept all these years in Authority and pave the way for the government to save and prepare for the national presidential elections real party is not taken without other costs from the public coffers of the State.

2- الدعوة لإنهاء حكم الأسرة ومنع التوريث وإلغاء الحرس الجمهوري والقوات الخاصة 2-call to end the rule of the family and to prevent the abolition of Inheritance and the Republican Guard and Special Forces

الدعوة إلى الإضراب التصاعدي والاعتصام المفتوح . The call for a strike and sit-open upward.

3- التأكيد على التمسك بالوحدة اليمنية أرضا وإنسانا وعدم التفريط بسيادة واستقلال الوطن والدعوة إلى عودة جميع المعارضين إلى أرض الوطن للإسهام في بناء يمن جديد وإغلاق جميع الملفات . 3-emphasis on upholding unity Yemeni territory and people and not to alienate the sovereignty and independence of the country and call for the return of all opponents to the country to contribute to building a new Yemen and closing all files.

4- دعوة أحزاب المعارضة إلى عدم قبول أي مبادرة يقدمها النظام الآيل للسقوط لأنهم بذلك يمنحونه طوق نجاة. 4-invitation to the opposition parties not to accept any initiative by the fall of the regime so they Emenhouna LIFE BELT.

5- دعوة قيادات الجيش وقوات الشرطة والمخابرات بان لا يكونوا أدوات قمع ودموية ضد الشعب المطالب بالطرق السلمية الإصلاح والحرية. 5-invite leaders of the army and the police and intelligence services that they are not tools and bloody suppression against the people of the peaceful demands of reform and freedom.

6- الطلب من الدول المانحة بوقف تقديم المساعدات المالية لليمن لأنها لا تذهب إلى وجهتها الصحيحة. 6-demand from donor countries to stop providing financial assistance to Yemen because it does not go to the correct destination.

How tacky. Its one thing to imprison the political opposition, critics and journalists in your own country, but to try to kill some one, twice, in a foreign country is a bit obnoxious. Ah but it was just a warning. Otherwise, he’d be dead.

From the Empty Quarter:

Not very many details at this point, just that two attempts have been thwarted recently by security personnel. Apparently, the assassins first sent a gang to kill him (former Yemeni president Ali Nasser Mohammed) in Damascus, but for some reason were unable to do so. Now they have attempted again in an unnamed “Arab capital.” Sources close to the former leader said they believe the assassination attempts were meant only as a warning, given the current conflict in southern Yemen, and not meant to really kill Ali Nasser. The article is careful to say that the source did not implicate anyone in the attempts…wimps. Hmmm, I wonder who would have motive - a party worried about external conspirators perhaps.

Those guys in the UK better look both ways when they cross the street.

al-Sahwa
September 11, 2007-09-11- Al-azab, senior leader of the main opposition party, the Islah, said that the ruling party must relinquish power, stressing that its return to power would be a catastrophe.

He called for holding early parliamentary and presidential elections, expressing surprise at the ruling party’s calls regarding handover power to the opposition.

“It fought bitterly and puttered public money in the last elections in order to monopolize power” he said emphasizing that those calls unrealistic.

He further demanded the ruling party to stop repressing peaceful protests and sit-ins, stressing that they are in accordance with the state constitution and laws.

Also call for early elections

Al-Sahwa

September 8, 2007- The Member of Parliament, Abdul-Karim Shaiban, called upon the ruling General People Conference party to abandon power and hold early elections, accusing it of failing in managing the state’s economy.

“The current Yemeni government has no strategies, policies” he accused the government after commodities prices extremely soared.

“The government could not keep stability of wheat prices without having clear strategies; it does not know how wheat much Yemen needs? If you ask the Commerce and Industry ministry the last question, indeed, it can’t indeed answer” added Shaiban.

He further said that the government could not control prices when some officials are the merchants themselves.

The regime has a predictable pattern in responding to civil unrest: blaming the opposition and foreign forces, increasing violence and judicial repression, a hostile media campaign, avoiding addressing the issue honesty, rejecting any responsibility or any acknowledgment of legitimacy of popular grievences.

almotamar.net - The secretary general of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Abdulqader Bajammal has said the Yemeni unity is not just red line but a line drawn with blood too, emphasizing this is an essential issue. He said,” The GPC members will fight in the streets in defence of it (the unity)”.Bajammal added,” I hope if others can understand that who plays with fire he will get burnt with it.”

The GPC secretary general warned the Yemeni socialist Party (YSP) not to fall in the trap in which the Irish army had fallen. He criticised the role of YSP in supporting demonstrations and sit-ins that took place in a number of southern and eastern governorates and changing them from demands for rights of the retired into acts of riots and calls and slogans hostile to the national unity and social peace.

(Read on …)

TajAden is the Yemeni Southern opposition in exile and advocates the seperation of North and South Yemen. The following statement prompted by the civilian deaths in Dhalie requests the UN to supervise the withdrawal of “Yemeni forces from occupied South Yemen.”

TajAden 10th September 2007

Oh masses of our proud people in the occupied South Arabia.

On the 10th of September 2007, the large masses of our people in the capital Aden and in Dhala city as well have got out protesting peacefully against the Yemeni authorities’ forces that have arrested and abducted the southern liberal struggler leaders. The protest was for an immediate release of prisoners unconditionally in all cities of the occupied South Arabia.

In a hooligan frivolous action the Yemeni occupation forces have fired on the peaceful demonstrators in the city of Dhala, which led to the fall of 3 dead and wounded more than 10 people. Also they have prevented a peaceful strike in the city of Aden, the capital of the South. They besieged the city neighbourhoods with tens of military vehicles and tens of thousands of the Yemeni occupation’s criminals and murderers soldiers.

The Yemeni Security forces has already killed and wounded a number of demonstrators in the city of Mukalla and put many innocent people in jails without charge as they did in Aden. Also thousands of soldiers were deployed in several cities such as in Mahfad, Loader and Moodiah in Abyan governorate and cut off roads and set up barricades in the governorate of Lahj. The Authority also deployed tanks and thousands of criminal soldiers in the city of Alhabeelain and in the districts of Radfan province. This exercise of military tyranny continued in a number of cities in the governorate of Shabwah which is now under a comprehensive military siege.

The Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ) highly salutes the courageous sacrifices of our people and our martyrs who were shot dead this morning by the occupying military forces in the city of Dhala as well as those who were killed and arrested during the past weeks in the cities of Aden and Hadhramout. “TAJ” admires the wounded who faced with their bare chests the criminal, bloody armed machines of the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh and calls all sons of the South Arabia for conjunction and solidarity in the face of the occupation’s forces and continues the struggle for the restoration of full rights of freedom, independence and self-determination.

(Read on …)

update: 20 protesters to be tried for treason

they must have been chanting slogans

Yemen Observer

About 20 Yemenis from Aden and Mukalla will be put on trial for treason soon after two were killed and dozens injured in the recent riots in southern provinces, official sources said on Thursday.

“Investigations into about 20 people, who were have been arrested during the last few days over the riots that occurred in Aden and Mukalla, are complete, and they will be referred to the courts very soon,” said an unidentified source in the Ministry of Defense.

Earlier in the week, the country’s highest security committee said it would charge “any individual or organization calling for separation” with high treason. Some of the demonstrators in Aden and Mukalla chanted slogans against the unification of North and South Yemen.

“Any political party, group or individual repeating slogans against national unity or calling for the division of the nation will be put on trial for high treason according to the constitution and the laws currently in force,” said a statement issued by the Supreme Security Committee.

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Three killed and eight wounded in Al-Dahalie.

Authorities prevent a sit-in in Liberation Square, I’m assuming that’s the one in Aden not Sana’a.

That’a a total of eleven demonstrators killed within the last month.

Earthtimes Sana’a, Yemen - At least two people were killed and 10 injured when a protest against price hikes turned violent in southern Yemen Monday, witnesses said. They said the two men were killed during clashes between police and protesters in the provincial capital of al-Daleaa, some 240 kilometres south of the capital Sana’a.

Thousands of protesters took part in the demonstration that started peacefully but ended with riots when protesters began throwing stones at buildings of the local government, local sources said.

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The guy lead a demonstration - protesting discriminatory practices against Southern retired military. So they arrest him.

Al-Sahwa:

September 8, 2007- Yemeni security authorities have transferred the retired brigadier, Naser al-Nawba, and other 8 retried military officials from Aden into Sana’a in order to try them in military courts.

It is worth reclaiming that al-Nowba was arrested with other former retired officials due to involving in protests aiming to extract southern former officials’ and soldiers’ rights.