Sunday, Aug 29, 2010Volume 01 - ISSue 13

PrIce: yer 30

www.natIonalyemen.comNationalYemenThe Facts As They Are

The Facts As They Are

WB Devizes Qat Combat Strategy

Explosive Growth of Electronic Banking Shabwa Report05 07 08 10

SANA’A, Aug.27 - The na-tional currency continued to improve against foreign cur-rencies, primarily the US dol-lar, which continued to drop recording YR 215 to the dollar, the State-run 26sep.net report-ed on Friday. This came after the strict economic measures taken by the government dur-ing the last few days, following a fall in the value of Yemeni ri-yal (YR) to a record level.

There was a buzz of great sat-isfaction in the Yemeni streets

when it was announced that, after beginning this month at YR 260, the strength of the ri-yal had risen to YR 215, and the other foreign currencies also continued to fall against the riyal, including the UK Pound, Euro, Saudi Riyal and other currencies.President Ali Abdullah Saleh, chairing the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers on

Yemen’s government and northern rebels have agreed to strengthen a fragile truce and start a proper political dialogue designed to end a civil war that has raged on and off since 2004. The deal was signed in Qatar, where Yemeni officials and rebels have been in talks since Tuesday, members of both delegations said on Fri-day.Successful implementation of the deal would be a huge re-lief to the government, which is struggling to curb a rising southern separatist movement and a resurgent al Qaeda wing that has increasingly targeted the state in recent months, a rebel source said. The agreement was signed in Doha, Mohamed Abdel Salam told AFP, without providing details. AFP quoted the Qatar News Agency as saying that

the agreement was signed by a general, Ali bin Ali al-Qaysi, on behalf of the Yemeni gov-ernment, and by Yusef Abdul-lah Hussein al-Faishi for the rebels. Meanwhile, HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khali-fa al-Thani telephoned Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. They reviewed bilateral ties and a number of issues of mu-tual interests.A Yemeni diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday that the talks were “not to reach a new agreement but to put in place mechanisms to apply previous agreements.”Abdel Salam said earlier in the week that the rebels’ main demand was “the liberation of prisoners,” with an estimate of around 1,000 rebel support

August 27, 2010: For the last week, soldiers and police have been searching for many al Qa-eda operatives known to be liv-ing in and around the southern town of Loudar in the gover-norate of Shabwa. At least 18 al Qaeda personnel were killed, but many escaped, sources say. The police say they are in hot pursuit. Loudar is in Abyan province,

550 km southeast of Sana’a, surrounded and shrouded by mountains and unruly tribes. While the fleeing al Qaeda have hideouts, the majority of those previously based in Lew-dar are now out there, in unfa-miliar surroundings, and easier to spot, track and target. It is expected that many of these

Al Qaeda Under Heavy Attack in Lewdar, Abayn

Yemen officials: rebel peace deal resolved in Qatar

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YOUR NEW NEWSPAPER

Qat – The root of a potential Yemeni economic depression is found in a leaf chewed for its happiness. See our report on the World Bank led initiative, Integrated Qat Reduction Agenda, by Jihan Anwar. Photo by WB.

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The Turning of an Arms Dealer

2010 First Half Oil Report

More than 100 million barrels of Yemeni oil production lasts year;Al-Masilah ranks first in oil production; Jannah Hunt ranks fourth and the State support of oil derivatives does not exceed YR 397 billion

The government’s share of the total oil exports during the period January - June 2010 amounted to 15 million bar-rels at a value of a $1.205 Bn US dollars (average price of a barrel $78) compared with 13 million barrels, worth $665 million (average price of a barrel $90.51) during the same period last year. A gov-ernment report, of which Na-tional Yemen got a copy, said that domestic oil consumption amounted to about 11 million

barrels during the period Jan. to June 2010 compared with the domestic consumption of about 14 million barrels for the same period of 2009. The gov-ernment’s share of oil exports in June this year stood at 73 million barrels. The report not-ed that net production in 2009 sharable between the State and partners, after deduction of that the amount used in the produc-tion processes, tax and cost oil, amounted to 67.034 million barrels.

Al-Masilah had the highest production 27.561 million bar-rels at 28%. East Shabwah Sec-tor ranked second by 18.633 million at 18%; Marib / Al-

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Yemeni armed tribesmen kid-napped two foreign workers on Friday in the southern troubled province of Abyan to press for the release of one of their fellows detained on charges of having ties with al-Qaida, Xinhua News Agency reported.The kidnapped pair, a Turk and a Syrian, who worked with a for-eign investment company, were abducted late on Friday by the powerful Al-Bakazim tribe in Ah-war district of Abyan, the official told Xinhua, under condition of anonymity. “The abducted foreigners were taken by the kidnappers to a near-by region in al-Mahfad district in Abyan,” the official said. “A tribal and security mediation has been launched to seek the release of the abducted,” he added.Abyan province is thought to be a stronghold of al-Qaida in the Ara-

bian Peninsula after it has wit-nessed a series of deadly attacks allegedly carried out by the re-gional terrorist wing since earlier this year, leaving dozens of secu-rity personnel dead or injured. Whilst the recently assaulted town of Lewdar, Abyan (the fo-cus of last week’s counter terror-ist operations) lies at the other end of the governorate from the Al-Ahwar and Al-Mahfad areas, the tribe purportedly concerned in the kidnapping, Al-Bakazim, were specifically mentioned in an AQAP statement which was issued following the US support-ed airstrikes of December 17th 2009, which were reported in the New York Times. The AQAP statement offered condolences to the families of fifty Muslims who died in the attack, the great-est number of casualties coming from the Al-Bakazim tribe.

Abyan: 2 Foreigners Kidnapped by Al-Bakazim Tribe

Ramadan Traffic Accidents:

117 Dead, 696Injured

Adnan Al-Madh

117 were killed and 696 oth-ers injured from 526 different traffic accidents in the first half of Ramadan alone (1st – 15th). According to Ministry of Interior traffic reports the accidents were broken down as follows:

Sources in Saa’da city con-firmed that Colonel Ali Al Husam, the Deputy Director of Political Security in the Governorate, was kidnapped on Thursday night from the front of his house in the Of-ficers’ Neighborhood.No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Sources say that the kidnappers might have taken him to Wa’elah Saa’da: Deputy Director

Saa’da: Deputy Director of the Political Security Kidnapped

US dollar continues to drop, recording YR 215

A Republican Guard were at-tacked yesterday (Friday 27th August) while patrolling in the area of Al-‘Ar, which lies in the Yafi’a district, Lahej governorate, the Mar’ib Press reported. The area borders the governorate of Al-Baydha’. The patrol was ambushed by an armed group in the area, and (the patrol) suffered losses of two dead and three injured. An eye witness confirmed that ambulances arrived to escort the casualties to hospitals in Al-Baydha. Further details re-main unknown.

2 Killed, 3 Injured from Republican Guard in Lahej

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Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com2 National YemenADVERTISMENTS

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com 3National Yemen LOCAL

Only a few days since the cam-paign for the release of the two journalists Kamal Sharaf and Abdul Elah Haidar (on Face-book), more than a thousand members joined. The mem-bers use the slogan ‘Together, for the release of journalists Kamal Sharaf andAbdul Elah Haidar’. The site creators have specifically targeted access a thousand members, while the numbers almost immediately exceeded that figure. Kamal Sharaf and Abdul Elah Haidar, who were subject to extra-judicial detainment, are being held within the prison confines of the National Secu-rity Agency in Sana’a, with-out legal representation. Their constitutional and legal rights have been violated, protesters say. The members’ message states, “Your Excellency Ali Abdul-lah, President of the Yemeni Republic, I would like to ex-press my deep concern for the health and safety and lives of the Yemeni Journalists Abdul Elah Haidar Sha’ye and Kamal Sharaf who were detained by elements claiming to be from the National Security Agency on Monday evening 8th Au-gust 2010. They have, up to now, been missing and beyond communication, which is con-trary to the law of your country that states that no one may be detained more than twenty-four hours in this fashion, and

that prisoners must be referred to public prosecution within 24 hours from their arrest. I believe that the detention of Abdul Elah Haidar and Kamal Sharaf was because they were practicing their legitimate right to freedom of expression. I think that the continuation of their imprisonment means a continued regression of pub-lic freedoms and freedom of opinion and expression in Ye-men. The continuation of their imprisonment in isolation from the outside world is contrary to our law and international hu-man rights, which stipulates the right of any prisoner to visits, a fair trial and preserva-tion of personal dignity. You may well know that the cir-cumstances of enforced disap-pearance may involve torture. Enforced disappearances are a crime punishable under the in-ternational law.

I request of you the following: 1) the immediate release of Abdul Elah Haidar and Kamal Sharaf; 2) Ensuring their legal rights, whether their immedi-ate release, or referring them to trial, bearing in mind the 39 UN protocols on the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment adopted by United Nations Resolution 43/173 of Decem-ber 9, 1988.

Thousand Facebook Users Send Unified Message to President

Mosa Al Nimrani

Yemen officials: rebel peace deal resolved in Qatarers remaining in government custody.“Our other demands include the development and recon-struction of the marginalised provinces of north Yemen, where services, water, roads and schools are lacking, as are the respect of our politi-cal and religious rights,” he added.The rebels draw their sup-port from among followers of the Zaidi strand of Shiite Is-lam, who are in the minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the north.There have been six rounds of fighting between the rebels and government troops since the uprising first erupted in 2004. The conflict has killed thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands home-less and displaced.The last round of fighting began with a government offensive in last August and saw border clashes between the rebels and Saudi troops. It ended with a six-point peace plan in February, including a ceasefire that has largely heldQatar helped broker the first peace agreement between the rebels and the government in June 2007.

operatives will either desert the AQ organization, or go back to their families in Yemen, if they can, and try to avoid the police. The foreign elements of al Qa-eda are always more visible, and vulnerable. The total number of deaths in the battle for Lewdar has reached 33 so far (including eleven security forces person-nel, and three civilians). Large quantities of weapons were captured, along with docu-ments and other equipment. The police urged people to flee Lewdar before the raids began, and many al Qaeda were able to get out by pretending to be fleeing displaced persons.The government believes that it has done a lot of damage to

al Qaeda. The terrorist orga-nization has lost hundreds of members to combat deaths, arrests and desertions. Yemen believes this has crippled local Islamist terrorist operations. The U.S. and Yemen disagree on this point, with America pointing out that key al Qaeda figures, like radical cleric An-war al Awlaki, are still at large and operating in Yemen, but via the Internet. But their Ye-meni counterparts are focusing on dismantling the organisa-tion’s presence through killing or capturing excessive num-bers of pro-al Qaeda militia that threaten the government and control distant towns and rural areas.

US dollar continues to drop, recording YR 215 August 3, directed the govern-ment to focus its efforts to sta-bilize the price of the national currency, as well as prices of basic foodstuffs.In the same regard, a senior of-ficial at the International Mon-etary Fund (IMF) said that the gains have been achieved by the Yemeni currency recently are incipient signs that the strict economic reforms began to bear fruit in Yemen.Head of the IMF’s mission to Yemen, Hassan al-Atrash, told Reuters that the Yemeni gov-ernment did not intervene in the market last month to sup-port the currency, which indi-cates that the situation is stabi-lizing.“I think that the currency ex-ceeded the acceptable levels in the recent decline and so the recent rise will be welcomed”, al-Atrash added.He pointed out that the eco-nomic measures taken by the government eventually have contributed to the exchange rate stability and the protec-tion of foreign exchange re-serves, affirming that adequate reserves are available to the Yemeni government for about five months.

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Newspaper

Fakhri Hassan Al-ArashiPublisher & Chief Editor

Mohammed Al-AsaadiEditorial Consultant

Mansoor Al-RdaeiNews Editor

Fuad Al-QadhiBusiness Editor

Dr. Ahmed Al-QoyadhiEducation Editor

Najla’a Al-ShaibaniSocial Editor

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Khaled Al-SofiSeniorTranslator

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Hind Al-EryaniP.R & Marketing

Jihan AnwarStaff Journalist

People seem predictably happy with the sudden drop of the US Dollar against the Yemeni Riyal. But this is in spite of the general apathy towards currency ex-change rate beforehand. This is just one oddity and inconsistency surrounding the debacle of the strength of the riyal. There are others.

By the first week of Ramadan the US dollar climbed to over 250 Riyals and now, seemingly by chance, it has dropped to 215. When all this happened officials from the Central Bank stated that this economic windfall was sin-glehandedly due to their financial strategies. They claimed that their economic legislation is powerful enough for them to be able to control the market. Eco-nomic experts, however, say that sudden changes in investor confi-dence, money laundering and the black markets are behind the cur-rency fluctuations. President Saleh in his speech two weeks ago about the economy, ordered the government to rescue the ail-ing Riyal. By that time he stated he would be satisfied with an ex-change of YR 239 to the USD.

The question arises here of who, exactly, is responsible for the growing strength of the Ye-

meni riyal? One might say that the ex-

change rate is simply resuming its natural equilibrium, and so the strength of the riyal is nothing important – a mere blip in the currency exchange tracker graphs. However, the dollar is now of even lower value, com-pared to the riyal, than it was three months prior.

My prognosis is that there are three different major factors that explain the story of the dollar, two of which are covered well in this issue of NY. The first are the indicators of a nascent, but grow-ing, stability, in Yemen’s security picture; both the Doha peace agreement between the govern-ment and Houthi rebels, and the sound prosecution of AQAP ele-ments in Abyan, are evidence of a notable improvement in the country’s stability. The second, partially related to the first, is the approval of the Gulf 20 to take place in Aden later this year. The third, and last part, is the in-creased commerce and personal expenditure we usually witness in the holy month of Ramadan, where people stock up on food-stuffs, and gifts, and clothes, and are generally purchasing in Ye-meni riyals, and not foreign cur-rencies.

Whilst I am undeniably and un-ashamedly grateful for this na-tional economic windfall, one niggling thought remains; Ye-men, its people more than the country, depend on foreign aid and development projects, to help those Yemeni communities worst hit by events. This new ex-change rate trend will serve to reduce and blunt the impact of relief and aid projects in Yemen, as those projects are largely fund-ed in USD. So will this new ex-change rate be as much a blessing as it is a curse?

Fakhri al-ArashiPublisher & Chief Editor

The Inconsistencies of Exchange Rates

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Continued from ( 1 )Al Qaeda Under Heavy Attack in Lewdar, Abayn

The Yemeni Teachers Syndi-cate (YTS) calls on the rest of the unions to support it for the Ramadan Bonus and the Law of Wages

The YTS called the rest of unions to support it in claim-ing their due Ramadan bonus. The Law of Wages and Salaries includes a Ramadan bonus to all state employees, which the Government has already com-mitted itself to fully implement it, but has only achieved 20% of it.

In a letter to the professional unions of doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers and jour-nalists, as well as civil society organizations, the YTS called for support in its planned ‘sit-in’ protest for its legitimate claims, which will be carried

out in the next few days should the government failed to honor the Law of Wages.

According to an official source at the YTS, the Supreme Ad-ministrative Board will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to assess the results of the sit-in, which was carried out last Tuesday in cooperation with the General Union for Teach-ing Education Professionals GUTEP, and accordingly as-sess decisions on whether to escalate the protest for Rama-dan bonus.

The source added that the YTS will be prepared to escalate the legal claims to the high-est levels possible should it see fit, pointing out that next week will witness various protest events for similar claims.

Yemeni Teachers Protest for Promised Ramadan Bonus

A solidarity protest for journalist Haidar and painter Sharaf is ha-rassed and forcibly dispersed by uniformed and non-uniformed se-curity personnel. Police attempts to confiscate the Al-Hurrah Chan-nel camera was physically blocked by female protesters. Police chief apologizes privately.

It has been more than ten days since the journalist Abdul Elah Haidar and the painter Kamal Sharaf were arrested and put at the National Security Agency. Dozens of journalists, professors, law-yers, and human rights activists in Yemen protested last Thursday evening in support for Haidar and Sharaf’s right to freedom.

The protestors criticized the fact that the country had been trans-formed into a fearful mess of ab-ductors and abductees. The HOOD organization, the Committee of Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and Sajeen Orga-nization had called for a solidarity sit-in and Iftar session in front of the Office of the Attorney General. They expressed their rejection of the policy of intimidation and con-fiscation of legal rights, which are the safeguards of the citizens lives in the country. In addition, they expressed their support against the harsh conditions experienced by the detainees Abdul Elah Hai-dar and Kamal Sharaf who were denied the right to communicate with the outside world, the right to know the charge against them and the right to choose a lawyer.

The protesters demanded that the Yemeni authorities immediately release the journalists and put them under the protection of the law. Hood has called on the Attor-ney General to investigate with the directors of the Political Security Organization (PSO) Major Gen-eral Ghalib Al-Qamish and the National Security, Major General Ali Muhammad Ansi, regarding the crimes of unlawful detention and enforced disappearances com-mitted in the agencies they are running.

In the protest, lawyer Abdul-Rahman Barman, an activist in the HOOD organization, said, “Security Services have become the main engine for the judicial authorities and not vice versa. Activist Balqis Al-Lahabi called both the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Attor-

ney General to resign from their posts as long as they were unable to make their security agencies follow the judiciary and not vice versa.”

Professor of Criminal Law at Sana’a University, Dr. Hassan Mu-jalli, stressed the need to reinforce the Constitution and law after the authorities having suspended them until further notice. He pointed to the rights contained in Article 48 of the Constitution, which seems to warrant no attention from the State. The head of the Department of Political Science at Sana’a Uni-versity, Dr. Mohamed Al-Dhahiri, talked about the crisis of the ab-sence of the state, in its truest sense, stressing that the practices of the ruling authority in Yemen turned it from a safe state into a police state.

The human rights activist Balqis Al-Lahabi called for boycotting all events and media coverage or-ganized by the civil institutions of the military or arms dealers. She mentioned by name the Forum of Advancement and Progress, the National Awareness Foundation, Al-Saleh Foundation, and the re-cently created institution called National Peace Conference ad-opted by the well-known arms dealer Fares Manna’, in addition to the National Solidarity Coun-cil. “These institutions belong to people who are not civilians,” she said.

Meanwhile, a police patrol, along with elements dressed as civilians prevented the photographer of Al-Hurrah Channel from photograph-ing and attempted to take his cam-era. The resultant chaos, which happened after he refused to hand over his camera, did not end with any legal prosecution from either party. The female protes-tors present succeeded in dealing with the police and prevented the confiscation of the camera. The patrol police escorted Mr. Mar-wan Dammaj, Secretary-General of the Yemeni Journalists Syndi-cate, with them to a police station and released him a few minutes later, after an apology by the of-ficer in charge. Journalist Ahmed Al-Zorqah was threatened by po-lice elements dressed in civilian clothes, and other military outfits tried to assault him. They also hurled verbal abuse at him and the protestors.

Protests for Detained Activists Forcibly Broken by Security

On the 31st August 2010 the Malaysian community will commemorate its independence from British colonial rule. Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) first celebrated this event in 1957, and this year will be their 53rd national day.

of the Political Security Kidnapped

Tribe region, north-west of the province. Al Qaeda may be involved in this operation, they added.

Saa’da witnessed a botched kidnapping attempt last year, in which foreign medical staff were targeted, including the children of the families with them. Likewise, no group publicly claimed responsibil-ity for the kidnapping. Whilst the children were released earlier this year, the fate of some of the others remains unknown.

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com4 National YemenSOCIAL

A Yemeni researcher said that the crimes of human trafficking have been rising. He claims that there are criminal gangs with

foreign links outside, who are involved in the sex trade, in the illicit sale of human organs, child trafficking, and the im-moral exploitation of victims. According to chairman of the National Foundation to Combat Human Trafficking (NFCH), Ali Nasser Al-Ja’li, the crimes of human trafficking have be-come an increasingly exacer-

bated problem in Yemeni soci-ety, and not simply a limited phenomenon. He elaborated saying that human trafficking

was multiply manifest in child smuggling, sexual exploitation, and “tourist marriage” – a name given to the phenomenon of men in their senior years, often from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, visit Yemen solely to marry girls (paying an impres-sive dowry that the poor fami-lies of beautiful Yemeni girls find difficult to refuse given the

poverty), and then abandon them after they tire of them to an unknown fate.

The problem also turns up in

the trade of selling human or-gans and kidnapping young girls. In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Ja’li said that the security forces revealed that 500 cases of human trafficking in Yemen were recorded during the last period, and 150 detain-ees of the human trafficking gangs included Syrians, Egyp-tians and Jordanians. He said

that there are gangs actively dealing in human organs, gangs involved in child trafficking to neighboring countries, particu-larly Saudi Arabia, and gangs dealing in prostitution and ex-ploitation of girls, namely mi-nors (an average age of 14), for forced sex. Al-Ja’li said that children are mostly trafficked to Saudi Arabia by criminal gangs that also smuggle Qat, drugs and weapons. “The gangs use poverty, unemployment, deteri-orating economic conditions, wars, political conflicts, and lawlessness.” These conditions are a hotbed for gangs, facilitat-ing their operation in the coun-try.

The Yemeni researcher point-ed that girls are exploited for commercial sex in hotels and casinos in Sana’a, Aden and Taiz. He said that at least one hotel was closed down in Sana’a for prostitution. He also stressed that in Aden there are hotels and places where girls are exploited sexually, and all of those acts happen with the knowledge of the security and government bodies under the slogan “Tour-ism Promotion.” He pointed out

that some girls are being ab-ducted and trafficked to prov-inces other than theirs and are often forced into immoral acts. Al-Ja’li said “a 12-year-old girl was abducted in front of her school in Hodeida, west Yemen. She has been absent for four months and nobody knows any-thing about her. Although her poor family reported her abduc-tion, the security forces did not disclose any information about her fate, he said.

Influence and Cover-up Al-Ja’li said that some securi-

ty authorities have contacted him and expressed willingness to coordinate and work with him in the fight against human trafficking and the sex trade crimes. He believes that the government agencies’ initia-tives are positive, pointing out that the foundation has plans and programs to contribute to combating this social and legal problem. He attributed the in-volvement of external elements in human trafficking gangs to a lack of laws against human traf-ficking in Yemen. He also said that a security officer provided him with names of domestic

personalities having links with these gangs. It seems that these characters hold considerable in-fluence and are protected from some quarters within the state itself, he said. He added that one of the largest manifestations of human trafficking in Yemen is that influence and power are ex-ercised in largely by private sec-tor firms. The economic, social, political and military powers are used to force workers to la-bor for lower wages that do not provide them with the simplest requirements of life. The Yeme-ni researcher demanded issuing the state law against human traf-ficking and establishing or as-signing prosecutors and courts for these crimes. He demanded to criminalize and punish traf-fickers with maximum penal-ties, and the security and gov-ernment bodies to implement measures of control and protec-tion against these crimes.

Al-Jazeera Net

Human Trafficking in Yemen on the Rise Abdu Ayesh

Many believers who hold pure faith to Allah strive to know the health benefits of fasting for hu-mans as they believe that this divine command is the reason for fasting.

These interpretations should not lead us away from exploring the views behind them, however well-intentioned. Narrow-mind-edly some want us to view that those religious truths are there merely for worldly advantages for human beings, while there are great meanings attached to these religious truths as they govern man’s relationship with his Creator and his relationship with society. Moreover, these profound explanations are root-ed in the depths of the believers’ souls, psychologically and spir-itually. They broaden the be-liever’s vision to ascend to a re-ligious purpose that refuses to be limited to the logic of utili-tarianism. This logic obscures the divine purpose that Allah (our Lord) wants for believers in order to cleanse their souls completely.

No one can deny the benefits of religious obligations that are greater than physical, or even the limited and temporary spiri-tual ones, which might justify egotism and selfishness. They obliterate all the meanings of devotion and love in the divine religions. We cannot imagine what the obligation of prayer would mean if Allah limited it

to only its physical benefits, as if it were a sport for the body performed five times a day. What would this logic say about the obligation of martyrdom for the homeland, nation and reli-gion? Allah said in the Holy Ko-ran, “Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not.”

The spiritual advantages de-sired by the believer from per-forming his religion duties is the feeling that he had fulfilled the meaning of a humanity that Al-lah created, embodying divine love by loving His creatures and sacrificing himself for them. Al-lah said, “Lo, those who be-lieve, and those who emigrate (to escape the persecution) and strive in the way of Allah, these have hope of Allah’s mercy. Al-lah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

In this vast concept of reli-gious obligation you can search for the great meanings of the obligation of fasting. Fasting has special characteristics, un-like the other acts of worship; it has great merit and reward. It is the only act of worship that is performed by abstaining. Other acts are typically performed through positive action. It is through this fundamental differ-ence we recognize the merit of

fasting; a secret is placed in the performance, between a person and his Lord. The truth whether a person is fasting shows only to the Lord. Therefore, it is only performed by those who have great faith that there is only one God, the Creator, and that His orders and prohibitions must be obeyed in love of satisfying Him and asking for His reward. The other acts of worship can be performed out of hypocrisy, fear or submission, even if a person does not believe in the existence of God and His Oneness. So, when you are fasting, you ab-stain from human desires. If a person must abstain from eat-ing, drinking and sex during the day, it will be publicly, in front of people, but in secret they would not force themselves to fast. Only those who believe in fasting for God would fulfill this obligation. Otherwise what else, except pure faith of Allah, would compel them to under-take the suffering of abstaining, away from people’s eyes, from satisfying their human desires? It is this pure faith that makes a person undertake the hardship of fasting and weakening of the body by not responding to the seemingly necessary human urges.

Therefore, Allah singled out fasting by adding it to Himself, unlike the other acts of worship. Our Prophet (Blessings and Prayers be Upon Him) said that

Allah the Almighty said, “All the works of a human being are for him, except fasting; for it to Me and I shall reward for it,” As fasting is tough on souls, when Allah prescribed it for the be-lievers by saying, “O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you,” He followed this verse by “even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off evil”, telling them that this obligation was not lim-ited to them; it had included for-mer nations and peoples as well, and so they should not be impa-tient with fasting or feel preju-diced by having it prescribed on them. Here Allah instructs those who believe in Him to ward off evil if they want to be rewarded on the Last Day.

The second verse is meant to alleviate the hardship of this ob-ligation for the believers. The work of warding off evil would not consume all their time or most of it; it is just “certain days” as in the verse. When the believers read this verse, it be-comes easier for them to fast. Their hardship would not last forever.

Allah the Almighty continues to lighten the hardship of this obligation for the believers say-ing, “and (for) him who is sick among you, or on a journey, (the same) number of other days; and for those who can afford it there is a ransom: the feeding of a man in need. But who so doeth

good of his own accord, it is better for him; and that ye fast is better for you if ye did but know.” This verse shows that Allah has taken into account those who can’t fast due to an illness or on a journey. He made it lawful for them to break their fast and fast other days when they recover from their illness or settle down from their travel. Those who can’t fast due to old age or permanent disease can pay an amount, something which is tantamount to feeding a needy person. Both these clear and softly stated verses build on the fact that fasting is good for the believers without too much hardship and that God lightens and facilitates it. As it is hard to fast, the verses prepare the be-lievers before it is prescribed for them. The next verse in the Quran says, “And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month.” When the believers get used to fasting, they become content and completely satisfied to fast again when Ramadan ar-rives.

The hardship connected with fasting and the secret relation-ship it establishes between the believer and his God made this religious obligation rewarded enormously by Allah. Many Ha-diths (Prophet Sayings) place a great importance to the merit of fasting. It was related by Caliph Ali (May Allah please him) say-ing that the prophet said, “A

fasting person gets happy twice; once when he breaks his fast (at nightfall) and once more when he meets his God; and on the Day of Judgment Allah calls: Where are those whose souls are thirsty? By My Might and Greatness today I will quench their thirst.”

It is stated in the Hadith that the gates of heaven open at the first night of Ramadan and nev-er close until the last night of it. This tells us of the merit of Ra-madan. It is a sign of Allah’s ac-ceptance of our deeds during this month and that He an-swered our prayers. It is a sign to do more good deeds and acts of worship. We have to return to Allah, repent our sins, pray, re-cite the Holy Quran and listen to religious lectures during this month in which the Quran was revealed upon our Prophet Mo-hammed (Blessings and Prayers be Upon Him).

Where are those whose souls are thirsty?

Under pressure from the Unit-ed States and others to confront threats from al-Qaeda, along with Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the North and growing demands for secession in the South, the Ye-meni government is using na-tional security as a pretext to stifle criticism and reject human rights in a campaign of unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary ar-rests and unfair trials, Amnesty International charged in a new report today.

The human rights organization said the downward spiral in re-spect for human rights docu-

mented in the report, “Yemen: Cracking Down Under Pres-sure”, includes unlawful kill-ings of those accused of links to al-Qaeda and Southern Move-ment activists, enforced disap-pearances, arbitrary arrests, tor-ture and unfair trials.

Aliya Ibrahim al-Wazir de-scribed how she and six other female relatives of detainees or-ganized a sit-down protest near al-Saleh Mosque in Sana’a in September 2009. “I was beaten by police women. I held a photo of my husband and they tried to take the photo from me. When I

refused they hit me in the face and on my mouth, blood came out of my mouth.”

Yemenis accused of support-ing the Houthis, the armed Zaidi Shi’a rebels in the northern Sa’dah region, or the Southern Movement, have also been tar-geted for arbitrary detention, unfair trials in special courts and beatings. Journalists, dis-senters, human rights defenders, and critics of the government are subject to the same abuses.

Some have been subjected to enforced disappearance for weeks or months by largely un-

accountable security agencies that report directly to Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“An extremely worrying trend has developed where the Yeme-ni authorities, under pressure from the United States and oth-ers to fight al-Qa’ida, and Saudi Arabia to deal with the Huthis, have been citing national secu-rity as a pretext to deal with op-position and stifle all criticism,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Program. “All mea-sures taken in the name of coun-

tering terrorism or other securi-ty challenges in Yemen must have at its heart the protection of human rights.”

The security forces have killed at least 113 people since 2009 in operations the government says target “terrorists.” Attacks have become more frequent since December 2009 with security forces in some cases making no attempt to detain suspects be-fore killing them.

Amnesty International: Yemen Abandons Respect for Human Rights, Buckles to U.S. Pressure to Counter Terrorism

Mohamed Abdel-Salam Mansour

Malcolm Smart

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com 5National Yemen phOTO SA

On the board of the ship, the participants studied cases and Orientation session where the Japanese Administration explai

DEPARTING YOKOHAMA PIER 187

A Tempura restaurant in the middle of Tokyo, where the Yemen

The World Food Program Office in Yokohama-Japan, where parti

Preparation and studying what the Yemeni delegates are going

Walking proud of their traditional costumes

Captain M. Shirakawa, the Captain of Nippon Maru and a Yemen

Conclusion of the United Nation Security Council Simulation

At the United Nations Youth Association of New ZealandVenezuelan participant trying the Shawl and admired the Yeme

Yemeni expatriate and ex-participant in the program, visit Y

An Arabic event where the Arab Participants shared their tra

Within the schedule, the participants are allowed to visit m

In the reception party organized and attended by the Ministe

A group photo for the participant youth in 2007

Crossing the equator in the middle of the sea

A Yemeni delegate member Showing Pride of the Yemeni Flag

The “Ship for the World Youth” (SWY) is an international pro-gram that aims to broaden the international perspective of the Japanese youth, promot-ing mutual transcultural under-standing and friendship.

Yemen has participated for four years in this project and has given as much as it has received in this enriching in-tercultural program. Yemen participated in the very first year of launch, 1996, and then again to participate in the in-ternational program of SWY in its 19th year in 2007, followed by Yemen third participation in year 2009 in SWY21.

A group of Yemeni youths were also on board the vessel earlier this year in 2010, and welcomed the unique opportu-nity to visit different countries, whilst both studying and dis-cussing common issues from a global perspective and par-ticipate in other various activi-ties that involve multi-cultural and multi-national exchange. The courses also included a series of United Nations style discussion, where the partici-pants discuss a global issue by international aspects. In 2009, a Yemeni participant’s research recommendations were deliv-ered to the General Secretariat of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-Moon.

The courses vary each year to discuss essential cases that arouse mutual concerns among the international society as a base for the on-Board activi-ties. The youth participating in the program discuss issues like: Education, Cross-cultural Understanding, Sustainable Global Community, informa-tion and media, Youth develop-ment and United Nations.

The Yemeni participants, whose number reached over 40 participants, have decided to establish an alumni association as other participated countries in this program. The alumni members subsequently met with H.E. Mitsunori Namba, The Ambassador of Japan on May 26th.

The meeting with the Ambas-sador aimed to enhance the role of the participant youth in the program of SWY in advo-cating for their experience in Japan.

SWY is a program under the auspices of the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, and the program involves youths from Japan and various countries around the world. After board-ing the Ship for World Youth, they live aboard and taste abroad – an opportunity unique and relished universally by Ye-meni youths.

All Aboard! Yemenis on the World Youth Ship

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com6 National YemenREpORT

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A rational and sustainable use of water, a highly productive and competitive Yemeni labor force, a stronger and healthier popula-tion emerging starting from the children, a skilled and talented youth unleashing their potential - what may currently appear as a fantasy is what the Integrated Qat Reduction Agenda (IQRA) plans to achieve by a gradual implementation strategy.

Josephine Masanque, Julie G. Viloria and Samra Shaibani are part of the World Bank team in charge of the initiative that sup-ports the Yemeni government in a sustainable agenda for re-ducing qat demand and con-sumption. It is being financed by a Japanese government trust fund, amounting to the tune of $ 2.7 million.

Over 10% of the National GDP has its source from qat reve-nues, and 35% of the agricultur-al workers alone are exclusively absorbed by the qat industry.

Since Yemeni qat is considered of greater quality, its exportation and home trading holds profit-able job posts in its transporta-tion and handling processes.

Being a stimulant, the green leaves of this plant are said to increase one’s communicative skill and keep the mind alert. The first effects of the drug can be experienced after 15 minutes but the peak of euphoria is usu-

ally reached in the third hour of chewing.

Some parents admitted to pur-posely provide qat to their son to prevent them to go out and engage in socially undesirable behavior. In fact, an average qat chewer spends from 4 to 6 hours in this unproductive habit, and this period may be prolonged in case of unemployed or youth.

Furthermore due to the insom-nia inducing property of the leaves, it prevents one from re-ceiving a proper night’s sleep and negatively affects the fol-lowing morning hours perfor-

mance of an employee, poor concentration in a student and reduced attention whilst driv-ing.

In the last 30 years qat chewing became a symbolic and ritu-alised social gathering not only among the elite or high income classes, but also for middle and very low income populations – an ulterior reasons often caus-ing and maintaining poverty among within the latter.

As a Qat Consumption Survey conducted by the World Bank revealed, generally people ac-knowledge several side effects of the habit: 53% and 61% of men and women, respectively, suggested that qat consumption should be regulated legislative-ly. The survey also highlighted the recognition of 48% males and 68% females of the financial insecurity conducible to regular chewing. Yemen has also one of the lowest saving rates which many economists relate directly to qat addiction, especially in low-income households.

The government, and other organizations which hold the country’s best interests, tacitly support and intend to imple-ment qat regulation agreements as suggested in their request of the World Bank to supervise and lead the efforts.“The plan may take an entire generation to dilute the qat de-mand” Josephine Masanque, Portfolio Management Special-ist, observed. Yet, the project’s focus on mothers, youth and children suggests a high chance of success, despite a sensibly slow approach. “As a friend of mine said, if you teach a moth-er, you teach a generation”, she emphasized.

With this notion in mind, the Japanese Government offered financial support to a program titled ‘Strengthening The Pow-erless Groups through Family / Community Lead Programs’ the Trust Fund for a three year program, in awards to local authorities, communities and national NGOs, such as the Ye-meni Women’s Union which has a wide-ranging social net-work and have been very active in the implementation of the Agenda through raising aware-ness toward qat consumption consequences partnership in the project.

The aim of the IQRA is to en-courage the participation of every demographic element of the nation, “It’s a question of planning, aiming towards a well complemented set of activities that will have a common goal,” Dr. Viloria stressed. The World Bank team recognizes that a comprehensive multi-sectored based approach is needed in or-der to achieve concrete results.

“The closeness of civil society organizations to communities will influence, and is likely to change, people’s behaviour to-wards chewing Qat,” underlined

Samra Shaibani, Co- Task leader and World Bank Sr. Communi-

cation Officer. “Through raising their awareness and imparting information on Qat and how it affects the Yemeni family, such civic engagement becomes in-strumental in changing how Yemeni citizens, collectively, will minimize the long term im-pact in future generations,” Ms. Shaibani pointed out.

“We are also trying to convince the private sector in joining the cause by building playgrounds to offer alternative leisure op-portunities to the youth by en-couraging them to play sports and other competitive activi-ties.” Masanque added that “the qat issue is to be introduced into school curricula and sugges-tions of letting religious leaders hold seminars throughout the

country to preach about it have been discussed”.

A follow up meeting of the 2002National Qat Conference is currently being considered to be held at the end of the calendar year, in response to a request from the Minister of Planning in concert with other organiza-tions.

World Bank Devizes Qat Combat StrategyJihan anwar

Julie G. Viloria

Josephine Masanque “Qat is a national tragedy and everyone admits that now. No attempt has been really made to address the issue because up to 3-5 years ago talking about qat was considered taboo,” elucidates, frankly and casually, Dr. Julie Viloria, Task Team leader in Yemen on the Qat Dialogue Program. “Due to the sensitivity of the issue and the opposition of those who profit from qat production, according to various stakeholders, only few of the taxations and laws drafted in the first National Qat Conference on 2002 were really enforced”, she explained.

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com 7National Yemen

The Saa’da war embodies myri-ads of secrets, ambiguities and paradoxes. I am therefore in-clined to look at this man of 40, and a dealer of intercontinental ballistic arms, as a microcosm of all those secrets, ambiguities and paradoxes involved in the Saa’da wars.

Fares Manna’ assiduously ex-ercised his illicit trade, almost completely out of sight from the media. His name was narrowly mentioned whenever there was talk about the arms trade and its sources. If anything could hurt him and provoke an aggressive reaction, it would be a newspa-per discussing his commercial activities and his simple politi-cal alliances.

He has a passion for moving in the shadows, like any sharp-minded arms dealer. With the spread of the war, the spotlight was cast on influential figures in the whole of Saa’da. However, no one was able to talk about Fares Manna’ in isolation from being an arms dealer with dubi-ous and mysterious commercial relations.

Politically, Fares Manna’ is a leading figure in the GPC in Saa’da. During the rounds of the last war, his tribe fought fiercely and heroically in the ranks of the government forces, and hundreds of men from his tribe were killed. However, ac-cusations were leveled against him and people started asking an obvious question “Who pro-vides the Houthis with all their arms?” Rightly so, they pose this question eagerly and persis-tently.

Personally, I have never un-derstood why a phrase such as “merchants of war” is associ-ated in my mind with the name of Fares Manna’ in particular, but it was. I knew that he is a great arms dealer, and I thought that war is an irreplaceable sea-son for “lords” of arms like him. However, I am not confident in how fair and precise my view of the man was; ultimately, it is very blurred and based on a combination of illusions, ru-mors and side talks. This is as true of Fares Manna’ as it is of the Saa’da war.

It had not occurred to anyone that someday Fares Manna’ would play the role of media-tor in the dispute between the two sides, which were greedy consumers of the precious com-modity brought by the emi-nent lord of arms and graduate of Commerce and Economics at the University of Sana’a in 1994. He took special courses in Business Administration in London. He is a relatively elo-quent speaker in English. And after the Qatari attempts had failed and Abdul Qadr Hi-lal resigned, Fares Manna’ was appointed as Chairman of the Mediation Committee with the Houthis. Observers considered this procedure as one of the Saa’da war paradoxes and ma-neuvers that are difficult to ex-

plain. This decision has since become laughing stock, and even influential figures in gov-ernment circles criticized it.Since then Fares Manna has been receiving unprecedented attention. Earlier this week he

objected to his being described as a “Mediator”; he said he was “a messenger of the President of the Republic, and nothing more”.

By the sixth round of the war, Fares Manna’ was at the height of his political presence but in the form of a man of peace. His arms business activity remained confidential and a matter of con-troversy and suspicion. Howev-er, the sixth war had uncovered one of the most secret and dan-gerous commercial activities.

All of a sudden in the midst of the war the authorities put Fares Manna’ in the National Security prison for reasons not disclosed officially. Most probably, it in-volved a weapon deal, which is said to be financed by Al-Gad-dafi and Manna’ took responsi-bility of delivering the weapons to the Houthis. Last Sunday, in response to a question in this re-gard, Manna’ responded briefly, “This is not true; this is mali-cious gossip.”

In the meantime, less important arms dealers like Mohammed Jaber Alrazihi and Daghsan Al-Sabri were arrested, not to mention the list published by the authorities at the time in AlThowra Newspaper, which included, beside Fares Manna’, Abdullah bin Mu’iali, Jarman Mohammed Jarman, Ahmed Awadh Abu Miskah, Hussein Ahmed Al-Huthaili, Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sagheer and Ali Dhaif-Allah Al-Sawadi.

In mid-June, the authorities re-leased Fares Manna’, the arms dealer who has become famous. Perhaps the moment he left pris-

on was the moment of his birth as a politician.Manna’ held a national peace conference in the first week of August. It was the first time he faced the press and lights and improvised responses to ques-tions. He seemed self-confident, calm and very modern. He was wearing an expensive gray suit and a blue tie, I think, with short curly hair like a Sheikh who took off his “hat” to sit in front of the camera.

The event took place at the Movenpick Hotel, where secu-rity screening is accurate and rigorous. His young escorts stood near the podium, unarmed and staring with amazement at the man.

I wondered, “Where did he learn to negate, answer in so few words and sidestep sensi-tive questions, and smile in a friendly manner to the report-ers?” He seemed to act natu-rally. He was angry with both the government and the Houthis alike. He was making his way in that vacuum separating the Houthis from the state.

He was projecting a drastically different image of himself than had previously been drawn up in the minds of many. He was confused by a question about the paradox of being a popular arms dealer who simply turned into a peace activist. He said, “We are peace dealers; not war dealers.” On the way home, I was teas-ing my colleagues that Nobel invented dynamite and reaped huge profits from it, and when he saw the terrible consequences of using it in wars he wanted to atone for his mistake by allocat-ing part of his fortune to annual prizes for peace and other scien-tific areas. Of course, it was just a joke, but I tend to believe that

Fares Manna’s move cannot be disapproved or strange. He is one of the most influential men in Saa’da, and it seems that now he stands at an equal distance from both sides of the conflict. Plus, he has a large fortune to qualify him to play and bankroll this role.The man is firmly defending his arms business activity. He did not mind admitting that he is one of the top three figures in the arms business in the re-gion. He says to Illaaf, “Yes, we facilitate transactions between countries and companies that manufacture weapons. We took part in the facilitating and sign-ing of many contracts between the manufacturing states and companies. There are always disagreements over prices, con-ditions, and other things, and we make agreements between them, this is our role , nothing more.”

He said that he was the middle-man in countless arms deals. “There are so many (arms deals), including deals between Yemen and Russia, Yemen and Ukraine, Yemen and Eastern European countries as well as transactions between many Af-rican States, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Czech Republic, and others; they are countless, especially between Africa and Yemen, and other countries,” he says. He refused to disclose information on transactions he made for Arab states. “This is a personal affair.” He stressed that he has offices in all the coun-tries dealing with him. While denying being an agent for the “MiG” company,” he admitted he was a consultant to several companies. “I bring them deals, and I’ll carry on such works as per the international and do-mestic law and no one can take away any of my rights”, he said.

The man has demonstrated that he is a “lord” of weapons of a high caliber. Thanks to the few months that he had spent be-hind bars, these interesting facts came out.

In the leaflet, which was dis-tributed in the press conference, we read how the idea of the conference comes in response to popular pressure from the local community in Saa’da. He pointed out that the past peace initiatives have failed because they ignored the local commu-nity and focused on the parties in conflict.

Something like this came in my article two weeks ago, which was entitled “What Looks Like a Guide to Getting out of the Saa’da Quagmire .” I hope you do not mind me quoting some pertinent excerpts from it:

“Currently, no one can mo-nopolize the right to represent Saa’da; neither the Houthis nor the Yemeni government. The first are lawless rebels and the legitimacy of their existence is based on fear, oppression and arms. An insecure environment is essential for them to con-

tinue politically and economi-cally. The second (the govern-ment) has not established the structures and institutions in the Saa’da area as they should have. It helped to create favor-able conditions for the accelera-tion of the fall of the province into the hands of the Houthis. What I mean is that, there, in the region between the Houthis and the army, thousands of people who want to live safely away from the influence of political winning over, hate and grudge; people who were caught up in the cross fire without a choice.”“One of the factors that renewed the war is that the central gov-ernment has given itself the right to negotiate and decide to ceasefire without listening to the local allies’ views, and the parties which kept silence and neutral. These are the people who are supposed to sit down with the Houthis at the dialogue table, not the central govern-ment.

The required settlement should now be between the Houthis and the local community which is wounded and full of hate, fears and doubts. The basic idea

is this: comprehensive local rec-onciliation committees should be formed, taking the small de-tails into account, and working on re-shaping issues, domestic disputes and killings to their original nature before the war. In other words, the political features should be taken away from the violent acts which were brought to them due to war winning-overs and alliances.”

“Why not let Othman Mugally, Fayez Al-Aujar, Saghir Aziz, Hasan Manna’ and Mohamed Al-Imad who negotiate, instead of Al-Iryani and Ali Mohsen Al- Qaisi?” “Bilateral dialogues must be complex as the complexity of the scene, at the level of tribes, villages, neighborhoods and even families. This kind of broad and sustained effort will bring views together, establish rules for coexistence and the values of tolerance, pluralism and participation, taking into account the individual’s po-litical choices, ideals and their own beliefs.”

The previous four paragraphs constitute the essence of my ap-proach. I’ll assume that Fares Manna’ had not seen it, which is almost certainly true. But what is important to me is that his efforts culminate with success. I’ll overlook Fares Manna’ as an arms dealer surrounded by suspicions and his passion for arms, and I’ll take that his re-cent attitude towards peace as well-intentioned.

If we disregard the assumption that Muammar Al-Gaddafi had financed that deal in response to a parallel activity funded by Saudi Arabia through Hussein Al-Ahmar, then this is a good job that cannot be underesti-mated. At the press conference, Manna’ pointed out that he is trying to persuade senior figures to return to Saa’da and that he was forming a broad coalition including sheikhs, scholars and intellectuals of the affected province. He stressed that they were preparing a plan of action, mechanisms and connections.

Is it time for a new version of Fares Manna’ to see the light? Maybe. Who

knows.

The Turning of an Arms Dealer

Mohammed Al-Ala’ee

Fares Manna’ used to be merely a soft tenor in Saa’da’s tumultuous and funereal song. However, soon he fell out of sync, disrupting the song with his own heady overtone, a complex and beguiling tune

my view of the man was, ultimate-ly, very blurred and based on a combination of illusions, rumors and side talks. This is as true of Fares Manna’ as it is of the Saa’da war.

While denying be-ing an agent ... he admitted he was a consultant ... “I bring them deals, and I’ll carry on such works as per the international and domestic law and no one can take away any of my rights”

He was confused by a question about the paradox of being a popular arms dealer who simply turned into a peace activist.

‘

‘

‘Fares Manna’

Op-ED

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com8 National Yemen

In the GTZ’s report Aden prov-ince scored highly in the indi-ces of proactivity, service de-livery, infrastructure, utilities, business services, labor, level of central policy implementa-tion , and the determination of local initiatives for developing the private sector and working within regulatory frameworks. The province has also been able to maintain a high level of in-dices of: utilities provided by the local authority to meet the private sector activities in terms of the necessary infrastructure; business promotion services; skilled labor, and; labor regula-tions. The local authority also makes unremitting efforts to promote vocational training, skill development for local in-dustries, and assists in the re-cruitment of local employment. Dhamar ranked second in terms of preference of LBE in Ye-men. Interestingly the province had stronger indices than other provinces but ranked second due a number of sub-indices that had weakened its ranking at a general level. It was fol-lowed by Hodeidah. Sana’a ranked the lowest among six provinces covered by the sur-vey: Aden, Sana’a, Taiz, Hodei-dah, Dhamar and Hadramout Al-Mukalla.

The survey samples of the in-dex of business environment covered 1130 regular trade es-tablishments of varying sizes in

urban areas of cities in order to compare local economic man-agement with best practices that already exist. The survey results showed that about 56% of the establishments within the scope of the survey work in retail or wholesale and the utilities sec-tor ranked second in terms of specialization and a rate of 33%, followed by the industrial sector by 10%. The survey re-sults show that the majority of establishments are individual and less than 13% of them take the other classifications.

The survey unsurprisingly re-vealed that men, more than women, in the establishments surveyed who are most likely to own and operate the businesses; it is almost a prevalent situation. The report showed that 64% of the samples that have been studied work hard to improve the national local economy. It also pointed out that the local authorities work hard to im-prove their local economies and that the business impressions in Aden, Dhamar and Hodeidah in the performance of private sector organizations and local authorities are better than in the rest of the provinces.

The survey recommendations stressed that the provinces with high scores in the sub-indices to focus on improving the weak-nesses and enhance strengths and that the provinces with

low performances should ben-efit from the experience of the provinces with high-perfor-mance through the adoption of policies, procedures and tools followed by these provinces, which have proven to be the reason of their high perfor-mance. It stressed the need for the provinces to focus on imple-menting possible practices for improving the local business opportunities in the short term, based on the survey results that showed that the registration and regulatory compliance, for ex-ample, are just a few opportuni-ties for development.

The results pointed out that the LBE index is an important tool

to carry out diagnostic activi-ties focusing on managing local economies of some provinces and that the local authority has to focus on changes that have a noticeable impact on the results of the index. It is possible to use the index results to determine priorities of LBE development. They can be used as a basis to follow-up and assess the prog-ress of future reform initiatives that should target bolstering and facilitating the work of the pri-vate sector locally and the lead-ers of local authorities must use the index results as a model to identify the strengths and im-provement opportunities.

The ATM machines in Yemen increased to 365 at the end of last year 2009, an increase of 300 machines from 2008, and it is expected that the number will rise to 512 by the year’s end. A report issued by the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) outlined that ATM operations conduct-ed last year were estimated at about 7.6 million, exceeding the year before by 36%. Also, the total value of operations reached YR 83.8 billion in 2008 to YR 12.3 billion in 2009, and that the average value per trans-action amounted to YR 14.736. The report added that the aver-age value of checks that pass through clearing is more than YR 2 million.

The report said the ATMs are used for the purposes of re-tail and personal consumption other than the checks which are used for trade transactions and businessmen, companies and government operations. The-number of cards used to with-draw from the ATMs and POS rose last year from 414.448 to 589.858 cards, an increase of 42% from the previous year.

With regard to sale posts, the report indicated that they wit-

nessed only an increase of 3% in 2009, compared to 2008, when they went up from 2086 to 2148 machines, the report said. The number of sales posts will in-crease to 2900 machines by the end of 2010, the report estimat-ed. The number of transactions by the POS increased from 790.815 in 2008 to 846.032 in 2009, an increase of 7%, and the total value of operations in-creased from YR 17.1 billion in 2008 to YR 24.06 billion during the past year. The average value of transaction amounted to YR 31.252 per each transaction, noting that this amount is com-mensurate with retail transac-tions and household consump-tion.

The report confirmed that all private sector banks and the Islamic and foreign banks and one of the public sector banks have sophisticated and modern accounting system (core bank-ing). So, they are online with their branches, which made clients no longer bound by one specific branch, but now they can withdraw from their ac-counts and receive all banking services from any branch of the bank.

The report said that some banks have local switches in addition to four banks linked to a Leba-nese company. There are five banks that provide banking ser-vices by telephone, cell phone and the Internet. The report said the public sector banks have not yet entered the electronic bank-ing era, except one bank that is

competing with private sector banks in this area. Another pub-lic sector bank started establish-ing ATMs in 2008 but they are few compared with the number of its branches. There are only four banks and one company in Yemen that provide the services of sales posts at the present.

Aden, one of the best working environments for the private sector reports GTZ survey

The recent instructions of HE President Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic, dur-ing the meeting of the Council of Ministers came to positively and efficiently meet the cur-rent requirements to facilitate and build upon the economic innovations happening within the country. He emphasized on strictly cutting back public spending on luxury and unnec-essary goods in all of the state institutions. These included purchasing cars, building of unnecessary new buildings and publishing of courtesy adver-tisements in the media and all that costs the state treasury bil-lions of riyals. The money must rather be redirected to econom-ic development that serves the urgent and necessary needs of peoples’ lives and overcome the difficulties and hardships of the current economic situation.Such an approach represents a contemporary economic vision to dedicate the state’s resourc-es for economic development, and reflects the political leader-ship’s strong vision of building and developing the country.

The president also emphasized on developing non-oil resourc-es such as agriculture, fisher-ies, tourism, communications and other resources such as investments,for which integrat-ed and realistic studies must be conducted. He highlighted the necessity to combat and uproot corruption wherever it exists. The president instructed the government to seriously deal with the developments in the financial indices for the first half of 2010.

A recent report by the CBY pointed to the decline of the dollar exchange rate against the local currency, because of actions taken by the bank. It said that the market is full of hard currency due to the mea-sures taken by the government

in cutting back public spending as well as the CBY’s financing documentary credits for ba-sic food items, such as wheat, sugar and rice. The bank has forced the other commercial banks to open windows for selling foreign currency to cover the customers’ expenses, for example, in travelling for treatment. In addition, the bank has taken strict control mea-sures on sales of hard currency in banks and exchange firms on a daily basis. The bank has is-sued a communiqué in which it stressed that it would take punitive measures and charge fines against a number of ex-change firms and banks which violate the CBY’s instructions to restrict inconsistencies in the local currency exchange rate against foreign currency exchange rate. The bank indi-cated that these measures have stabilized the Yemeni Riyal (YR) against hard currencies and stopped the panic and sus-picion that citizens had during the second half of July, as the exchange rate had stabilized at safe margins.

The bank predicted that the na-tional YR exchange rate will improve against the foreign currency in the coming period through the influx of Yemeni expatriates to visit their rela-tives on special occasions and holidays. It will also improve through the influx of foreign tourists to Yemen from foreign and Arab Gulf states in the summer. This will also help to improve the CBY’s foreign re-serves. Statistics indicate that the volume of reserves, until mid-August current, has great-ly improved. All these indica-tors, in addition to better avail-ability of foreign currency, show improvement in foreign monetary conditions and re-serves, which in turn will fur-ther stabilize the YR exchange rate against foreign currencies.

Strict Measures of Central Bank Bolsters Local Currency Exchange Rate

BUSINESS

A survey of the Local Business Environment (LBE) in six governorates published by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) ranked Aden at the top. The survey comes within a framework of developing the private sector and facilitating an amicable business environment in Yemen, determined to initiate economic reforms.

Explosive Growth of Electronic Banking Systems in Yemen

The number of ATMs goes up to 365 machines and the electronic cards used to withdraw money now number more than 589,000.

Jawf Sector ranked third with 17.561 million by 17%; and Jannah Sector ranked fourth in the amount of production for up to 15.306 million barrels at 15% of the total production volume. The remaining quan-tity was divided among the rest of the oil production sectors: Hawareem, Sharq Saar, Shaq Al-Hajar, Ayad, Janoob Hawa-reem, Malek and Al-Aqalah. Ayad Sector ranked last with 34,400 at 0.4%. The report noted that the vol-ume of what has been exported to the benefit of the State from all sectors reached 30.858 mil-lion barrels in which the Al-Masilah Sector ranked first in terms of quantity and produc-tion rate, with the amount of crude oil exported for the ben-efit of the state reached 15.025

barrels by 49%. The report also included that the amount of crude oil sold to Aden Re-finery reached 25.942 million barrels in 2009 at $1.57 billion while the quantities sold to the Marib Refinery reached 3.075 million barrels at the cost of $185.477 million. More than 30.858 million barrels from both refineries were exported abroad to the tune of $1.952 billion, while the total cost of oil sold internally and external-ly reached $3.708 billion. The State had supported the oil derivatives in 2009 withYR 397.25 billion; diesel received the most support by 251% that is, almost YR 250 billion. The rest of the support was divided among gasoline, kerosene and gas oil.

Continued from ( 1 )2010 First Half Oil Report

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com 9National Yemen SpORT

The Technical Committee of the Arab Football Gulf Cup held a meeting and approved the fix-tures of the Gulf Cup 20 hosted by Yemen from Nov. 22nd to Dec. 5th in 2010 in the two cities of Aden and Abyan. A slight change in the duration of the tournament has been made. One day of the tournament is to be extended so that kicks off begin on Monday, Nov. 22nd. The final match will be on Sun-day evening, December 5th.

The national football team will play in the opening matches versus Saudi Arabia on Nov. 22nd. The team will play their

second match versus Qatar on Nov 25 and will play the Ku-wait Team in the third match in the preliminary round on Sun-

day 28 Nov.

The Full Fixtures are as fol-lows:

Mon 22nd Nov Yemen Saudi Arabia

Tue 23rd NovKuwait QatarOman Bahrain

Wed 24th Nov Iraq UAEThurs 25th Nov Break

Fri 26th NovQatar Yemen

Saudi Arabia Kuwait

Sat 27th NovEmirates AmmanBahrain Iraq

Sun 28th Nov Break

Mon 29th NovYemen KuwaitQatar Saudi Arabia

Gulf 20 Fixtures Declared

The Gulf 20 Cup was depos-ited in the main headquarters of the National Bank of Ye-men (NBY) in Aden, for safe-keeping until the tournament begins. The tournament will be held in Yemen from Nov. 22nd to Dec. 4th this year.

The cup was submitted in a ceremony held last week in Aden between. Hameed Shaibani, the Secretary Gen-eral of theYemen Football Association (YFA), and Abdul-Rahman Al-Kohali with the presence of Moham-med Haidan, Head of the YFA branch in Aden, Ahmed HuseinAl-Hasani,Secretary General, and Moqbel Al-Qa-wsi, Director of the branch of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) in Aden attended the ceremony.

The YFA had received the Gulf Cup in the ceremony of the tournament pool draw held in Aden last Sunday, from the Omani Football As-sociation, the title holder of Gulf 19 that was held in Mas-qat early 2009.

The Gulf Cup is protected and guarded deep within the bank vaults because it is coated with pure platinum, sculpted in the Brittany Factory in It-aly, and designed by the Iraqi artist Ahmed Al-Bahrani. It is worth mentioning that the idea of the masterpiece cup dates back to Sheikh Jasim bin Hamad Al Thani, and was first used in Gulf 17, in Qatar.

Gulf 20 Cup Guarded in National Bank of Yemen

Yemeni Olympic Committee Election ResultsMr. Abdul Rahman Al-Akwa, Minister of State and Secretary of the capita, has won the elec-tions of Olympic Committee with 47 votes, a visible majority. Mr. Al-Akwa was Chairman of the Committee before this over-whelming victory. The place of First Deputy went for Dr. Yahya Al Shu’aibi. Nadhmyah Abdul-Salam, Chairperson of the Gen-eral Association for Women Sport, was selected Second Deputy. The elections, whose

polling closed 3:30pm the day before yesterday, resulted in 24 members winning in the board of directors of the Committee. The winning constituency was declared with the presence of everyone in accordance with the

counting of votes, which came late, however, there was no ob-jection.

The results were as follows:Al-Akwa said, “We are waiting the initiatives of the members of the committee to serve the Yemeni sport and we need Al-Faqih’s (Minister of Tourism) experience.”

Sheikh Hussein Al Sharif was added to the constituencies’ lists as chairman of the General

Association for Fencing. Mo-hammed Al Wohaishi was also added as chairman of the As-sociation of Gymnastics. These two were excluded due to the tensions between the two asso-ciations before they came. This

procedure was a gracious ges-ture by Mr. Al Sharif indicating his value of sportsmanship.

Nabil al-Faqih, Naseem Al Mu-laiki, Hamid Al Matari and Adel Wadi left the former board of directors and four new mem-bers formed the only change in the committee: Sheikh Hashed Al Ahmar, Amin Al Muddah’ee, Mukhtar Hamid Saif and Lu’ay Sabri.

Al Khadhir Al Azzani, Chair-

man of the General Association of Basketball and Abdul-Salam Al Qamish, Chairman of the as-sociation of Archery were ab-sent from the elections

The committee of vote-counting

was formed with Mr. Ahmed Al Qa’tabi, chairman of the com-mittee, Abdullah Bahyan, Ali Al Misbahi, Mohammad Al Aida-roos, Isam Al Sunaini, Noman Shaher, Ramzi Al Aghbari and Samirah Al Sanabani.

Fifty-four voters have cast bal-lots, while four voting cards were cancelled for their illegal-ity or improper / unclear voting.

Mr. Hammoud Oban, Minister of Youth & Sports, Dr. Ahmed

Al Shu’aibi, Minister of the Civil Service & Insurance and Mr. Nabil Al Faqih, Minister of Tourism attended the activities of the ballot.

Aden / Abu ShamelDr. Adnan Al-Jafri, the Gover-nor of Aden, promised to honor the delegation of Shamsan Club participating in the Al-Basel In-ternational Boxing Champion-ship held in, Latakia, Syria. The

participants won two medals, silver and bronze, which quali-fied them to secure sixth place in the championship overall. Al-Jafri was very happy with the progress achieved and said it was “a pride for the people of

Aden governorate and Yemen.” He stressed that the partici-pantswill be honored because they raised the flag of Yemen high in the sky of Syria.

Governor Honors Boxers of Aden Shamsan Club

Events of the training course of integrated marketing com-munication were wrapped up last week in the conference hall of the Yemen Youth Gen-eral Union club in Sana’a. The course was organized by the Assembly of Yemeni Sup-porters, with the participation of 25 young men and women. The Iraqi lecturer Dr. Nahedh al-Obeidi lectured the course. Mr. Ammar El Hadji, the head of the assembly, said that the

course is the first of the as-sembly’s activities, and is es-pecially important as we are about to host the Gulf 20 foot-ball championship. Muammar Al-Aryani, the first undersec-retary of the Ministry of Youth & Sports, Mr. Mohammed Al-Ahjori, Yemen Olympic Committee Secretary-General, and Mr. Mohammed Rashad al-Alimi, local Member of the Parliament, attended the clos-ing ceremony.

Sports Marketing Communications Course Promises

Al Mahdi Honored in Ramadan Tournament for Tennis and SquashExclusiveThe branch of the Yemen Fed-eration of Tennis and Squash (YFTS) in the capital secretari-at Captain Nabil Al Mahdiin the opening game of Voux Rama-dan for children, youth, adults and seniors. The tournament was hosted in the Federation’s

complex in Sana’a. Since the resignation of Captain Nabil Al Mahdi, Secretary General of the YFTS, the Federation’s activities had stopped. Howev-er, this event is the third of its kind, as he had been honored by the Federation’s branches in Taiz and Hadramout.

The Yemeni runner, Walid Elayah, Asia champion in 1500 meters and 2000 meters steeplechase, made a new in-ternational achievement in Ye-meni sports history, at the First International Olympic Games for Juniors held last week in Singapore. Elayah secured sixth place in the finals of the

2000 meter race steeplechase among the most prominent stars in this race. Elayah broke his own previous record by 5:45 minutes. He had entered a preparation camp in Malaysia for a month at with sponsor-ship of the Yemeni Olympic Committee.

Yemeni Runner Elayah, World’s Sixth in Juniors’ Olympic Games

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com10 National Yemen

Yemen is one of the most beau-tiful countries in the world. You will feel like you have travelled back into some pocket of a past age, where men and women still wear their traditional garb. The houses look like drawings and pictures you may have seen in mythical stories and fairy tales. Shabwa is another must see for people who are looking forward to explore the rich cultural heri-tage of Yemen. The great histo-ry of the governorate is a quite impressive and is a proof of how developed early Yemenite civilizations were.

The Shabwa governorate is sit-uated between the governates of Hadramout and Marib, and comprises many historical cit-ies, sites and tourist attractions. The most beautiful of the cities of the Shabwa governate are:Ataq cityAl Sa’eedNasabOlaya CityAl Naquob CityAl Harjah CityDhe Nasr VillageThe variety of archaeological and historical sites in the Shab-wa Governate of Yemen makes it one of the best Tourist desti-nations in Yemen. Ataq city is perhaps the most important city of Shabwa, and has an interna-tional airport, a museum and a host of excellent tourist attrac-tions. The Dheiban palace is a

wonderful piece of architecture, built with clay coated Alnoura substance. The palace is pyra-midal in shape and is centuries old.

Travellers can also visit the cap-ital city of Shabwa, Al Saeed. Located in the picturesque

Yashbam valley, this is one of the best cities in the governor-ate. The specialty of the city is its five –six storey clay build-ings. Tours of Shabwa simply wouldn’t be complete without visiting this city. The grape vines surrounding the city lend a rustic charm to the place.

The ancient city of Shabwa lies nearby, although has long since been abandoned. Over time villages were rebuilt over the ancient ruins, because of the importance of the adjacent salt mines. The salt mines are east of the city – lick the rocks just to

make sure you’ve got the right place. You can visit the ruins of some of these abandoned Mus-lim villages, near the ancient ru-ins. When I visited them, a sand storm enveloped us, further adding to the lost and timeless sense of the place.

Shabwa generally consists of smaller cities, and its beauty is quite diffuse. Thus, when plan-ning a trip to Shabwa, travellers should ample advice and proper information about the place so as not to miss anything tucked away. In particular, I recom-mend at least considering visits to: Khoura city, Wasit city, Hijar Amdthbiya, and Hajr Yahar.

A wide array of accommodation is available in the bigger cities like Al Saeed and Ataq, and ca-ter for a variety of budgets. Of course hotels are only one op-tion. Shabwa is both a desert and coastal governorate, so you might like to consider camping. After all, caravanserais passed through Shabwa all the time; Bir Ali Bay was chosen by ara-bic merchants to establish the start of a caravan because it is the best natural harbour you can find from Oman to Yemen.

Camping on the beach is a unique experience, and there are supporting facilities to help. Im-pressively, at night, you should try to see the sea turtles crawl-ing ashore to dig their eggs in. Unfortunately I could only see some marks on the beach, but nonetheless a heartening sight. Camping in the desert, on the other hand, is a unique experi-ence; the sound of the wind, the light of sunset, the solitude of the desert..

Shabwa: a timeless preserve of lost cultural heritage

TOURISM

The National Yemen newspaper is looking to recruit young, dynamic candidates with a strong command of the English language to become journalists with the paper. Candidates must be prepared to visit locations in the field, under the di-rection of the National Yemen, to cover the latest stories, al-though suggestions for stories to be covered are welcomed. Both initiative and creativity are required, and our journalists are expected to develop their own ideas. Adequate training will be given in house, on key journalism

skills, and refinement of your written skills, as well as ele-mentary photography lessons. Nonetheless, good interper-sonal skills are required, as candidates will be expected to interview people and foster a network of their own contacts, within their specialist fields. IT literacy is vital to the job: candidates must be able to word process and to use emails, and must be able to learn how to create and utilise databases. Positions are paid.Applicants must apply by email to info@nationalyemen.

com, including their CV, contact details, and two samples of their writing (work must not be proof-read by someone else). Written samples should not exceed 400 words, and can be on any topic of the applicant’s choice, but must be written in a journalistic style. Successful applicants will be notified by email or by telephone and invited for assessment at the Na-tional Yemen office. Assessment will include a short sample of writing (200 words) of our choice, a practice interview (where the applicant interviews a member of staff), and a meeting with the selection panel (the editorial board).

VACANCIES / OPPORTUNITIES

Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com 11National Yemen

National YemenSunday, Aug 29 , 2010 Issue 13 www.nationalyemen.com ADVERTISMENTS