Armies of Liberation

Local authorities do nothing, again. Lets hope its not screw worm again because that’s communicable.

al Tagheer: He appealed to the people of the Beni Department Bakary Jabal Habashi in Taiz governorate and the Ministry of Agriculture and the local authority to maintain the speed of intervention to curb the epidemic of strange cause the deaths of dozens of cattle a few days ago. (Read on …)

There are good plans to address many urgent issues in Yemen but they are not implemented fully. Power centers within the government thwart reforms to protect their profits. In other cases, coordination among semi-autonomous ministries is nearly impossible to achieve.
IRIN

SANAA, 10 August 2010 (IRIN) – Despite record rainfall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other areas this summer, very little is being done to harvest this water to mitigate water shortages, experts say. In May at least seven people were killed in what officials described as the worst flooding to hit Sanaa in a decade. Flooding has brought large parts of the city to a standstill on a number of occasions. Attempts by the government to harvest rainwater are very limited, according to Ramon Scoble, a consultant for Germany’s Technical Cooperation Committee (GTZ). (Read on …)

The issue of non-iodized salt has come up before and its a change that could positively impact the nation.

Yemen Post: 70 per cent of salt at the Yemeni markets is non-iodized, a study by the UNICEF Nutrition Program has said. (Read on …)

The Yemeni government traditionally skimmed a lot of oil revenue by under reporting both the volume and price of oil sales, and large amounts of subsidized imported diesel were smuggled abroad. Efforts at economic diversification were hampered by massive corruption, bureaucratic infighting and ineptitude and the lack of political will or perhaps comprehension. Its hard to see how they are going to make the civil service and military payroll going forward. The government payroll is the main reason why people in the north aren’t protesting, like those in the south. Jobs are very scarce in Yemen.

Yemen Post Yemen’s oil revenues sharply fell during the past ten months by 65 percent to $ 1.473 billion compared with $ 4.149 billion in the same period last year, government reports have said. (Read on …)

BBC: Assets (of Dubai World) include DP World, which caused a storm when trying to take over six US ports (and operates Aden Port.)

DPI corporate page here. Kuwait had a better bid than Dubai for Aden Port, but Dubai World got the contract, which was heavily weighed in their favor initially and even after the contract’s revision. But with DWI currently unable to pay its debts, development at Aden Port may stall. There is an the ongoing strike at Aden port for more than a year, prompted by DWI’s unfair labor practices. I have a copy of DWI’s employment contract and it allows for arbitrary dismissals among other discriminatory actions. DWI has called for the dismissal of union leaders. DWI took control of container operations in November 2008.

Yahoo: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A top Dubai finance official said the emirate fully expected fallout from its debt problems and assured foreign creditors that Dubai World’s request to postpone payment on some of its $60 billion in debt was “carefully planned.” (Read on …)

The inability of small businesses to get a credit line is actually a huge issue, dull perhaps but consequential. It impedes the diversification and growth of the economy by region, product and ownership. As the recent tightening of credit globally stunted the world economy, in Yemen negative result of the failure of banks to grant credit to small and medium businesses is magnified by other economic factors including corruption and the lack of infrastructure including electricity and roads. At the same time the banks make a wide range of inappropriate loans to “influential persons”, a practice that lead to the seizure of the Watani bank a few years ago.

Micro-credit has been one of the most effective methods globally of raising poverty stricken groups to self sufficiency. When people have an opportunity to better their future, they usually do, and work very hard doing it. The heart of a healthy economy is small businees, and in Yemen there are so many monopolies and unfair practices. Factionalism and identity politics are the norm, with marginalized groups also excluded from credit and therefore economic opportunity. Its another detrimental offshoot of the unipolar configuration of the political landscape and the increasing consolidation of economic structures (including land ownership) in the hands of the elite (Saleh and his gang). The Yemen Post reports on a study by the IFC:

The Yemeni banks are unwilling to grant credits for small and medium enterprises or they may give conditional credits for high profits due to high risks, a study has said.

The study conducted by the International Finance Corporation also noted that most of the small and medium enterprises in Yemen are not much qualified for loans because they don’t have enough guarantees. The ratio of credits to deposits is very low, about 33 percent, it finds, adding that only 4 percent Yemeni people have bank accounts. (Read on …)

That would be nice, this project has been in work for years. al Motamar

Yemen to export first shipment of zinc, lead and silver beginning of 2010
Thursday, 03-September-2009
Almotamar.net – A source at the Yemeni Geologist survey has expected Thursday the exportation of a first shipment of zinc, lead and silver from Yemen at the beginning of the year 2010.
(Read on …)

Land dispute, maybe disgruntled businessmen, leads to soldier’s death at the ZincOx mine.
Yemen Post

A soldier from the Republican Guards forces, led by President Saleh’s son, was killed and an officer was injured in fresh clashes with Al Al-Dhahak tribe from Al-Jawf’s Nihm district. (Read on …)