Mahyoob al-Kamali
Local Councils elections due on February 20, 2001 have held the attention of people because elections are a political step that expands the circle of decision making, and addresses social, economic and development issues. This will give the people a chance to have a more active role in handling many of their issues, preparing plans in line with the basic needs of areas and away from the bureaucratic grip of the centralized authority. Local councils by themselves, can do a great deal to curb the gap of living differences between citizens in towns and the countryside.
Local communities’ development was the vicious circle of the economic reform program that the Yemeni government has embarked upon since 1995. It is so because the program objectives were restricted to reform the structural imbalance without having an active public support. Therefore, people assume that having elected authorities in local councils in governorates and districts will give them a better stand to address some of their problems and relieve the burden on the centralized authorities. Local councils will give the people a chance to depend on resources of their areas to establish development projects.
Law No (4) for the year 2000 asserts the people’s right to field themselves as candidates for local councils. It also gives them the right to choose whoever they see qualified and competent for these councils’ membership. The main point here is, “What do Yemenis want from these elections?” and “Do the people have the general awareness about the importance of establishing the administrative decentralization system?” and “To what extent can people react actively to whatever happens in the national arena?”

So as to obtain a real picture of what is actually happening, YT met with a number of persons from different sections of the society to elicit their views. Ibrahim Mohammed Ali al-Matari, a student, said “Local council elections mean setting up a wide-ranging public authority that has the right of presenting proposals of programs and plans for local development. They can also monitor implementation of projects being endorsed. This will increase transparency as people can hold those elected to these councils accountable according to the law in case any violations are reported.”
He added “Developing local communities, particularly in rural and remote areas could be a reality if local resources are developed, national cooperation initiatives encouraged, scientific social, cultural and economic studies are conducted by people forming these communities.”
According to him those casting their votes should critically examine candidates’ programs, which reveal the overall framework of their activities and the way they can address issues of major interest to the public, such as poverty and unemployment, which reached a shocking rate estimated at 50% of the labor force.
Voters should also take note of the fact that there are many problems in governorates and districts. In particular, the ones related to water crisis, which has become a headache gripping many countries of the world, besides Yemen. Had there been thorough and careful studies making use of private capitals in the field of constructing dams and water basins, the problem would undoubtedly have been curbed. Many unemployed people would also find job opportunities. That will create the environment for many public investment and development projects.

Services Improvement & Planning for Economic Problems:
Engineer Mohammed Abdullah Hassan opines that the ensuing local elections means a lot for the people. He said “They give them the chance to shape their future, sharing in the decision making process. Local elections will help a lot in terms of identifying the problems, whether economic, social, productive or developing, facing the community in whatever areas and then the elected people can shoulder the responsibility of making plans to solve these problems.
Candidates are to consider conditions of areas they represent in their programs. They should acknowledge that certain priorities are to be given precedence over other issues of interest and concern to the people.”

Full Fledged Democracy for Overall Development:
Despite the fact that some opposition parties headed by the YSP and PNUP are standing against some articles of the Local Council Law and though they announced their willingness to take part in these elections, these parties still demand a full fledged overall democracy so as to fully achieve all the objectives of development. The main point set off by the opposition is that the law does not provide for electing governors and district directors. It also does not state clearly how local resources should be handled and fairly distributed.

Rural Development, Unanimously Considered Important:
Opposition parties and the people are unanimous about the idea that elected local councils have to pay a due attention to rural areas in terms of establishing public services, and development projects so as to achieve a complete rural development. They will also ensue programs to boost agricultural productivity. Efforts should also be made to support growth of animal wealth.

Facing Social Development Problems:
Mulatef al-Hamzi spoke of social development and problems and said “Local Councils elections will encourage the establishment of agricultural cooperation societies, investing the private sector capitals better and in a more expanded circle. The existing agricultural societies are only restricted to produce some fruits, vegetables and animal wealth. Planting products such as coffee and cotton should be supported. This requires more flexible and smooth mechanisms on the part of banks and the authorities concerned to deal with farmers and investors and help them face obstacles such as irrigation problems. If these situations are eased, there will be turning points in agricultural and animal production. We will have a surplus that can be exported to foreign markets.”
He added by saying “The existence of an elected public authority in governorates and districts will push councils’ members forward to solve many of the negative social phenomena such as revenge problems considerably impeding social development and hinder full participate in the economic development process in this country.”

Amin al-Kuhali said “Local elections in themselves are good and can do a lot if they go by the book. However, it is saddening to say that candidates’ agenda or manifesto won’t be the basis for the people casting their ballots due to high illiteracy rate rampant among the people, especially in rural areas where it exceeds 70%. This high percentage shows the political parties falling short of reaching the people, making them wary of their ambitions and convincing them of their programs of action. Therefore, candidates should pull all the resources to give a detailed account in their manifesto of mechanisms for solving problems of major concern to the people. We have become fed up with slogans. We need real studied polices and plans that are translated into actions. Actions speak louder than words.
In fact, the illiteracy issue is a major concern to so many observers and interested people as it seriously affects the election process. It also will affect the way problems of these communities are addressed and tackled.

Local Councils Economic and Development Roles:
The law has envisaged the authority and duties of local councils in terms of suggesting plans, projects, annual budget, conducting surveys to demonstrate priorities of development, discussing the level of local and mutual revenues collection, endorsing civil plans projects, encouraging setting up cooperation societies, backing up tourism, encouraging people to help set up and maintaining services projects and developing the marine resources.

As for financial resources of the administrative units, the law has defined different resources, the most important of which is local resources; 50% from Zakah, ads fees and taxes fees on tickets, building licenses, shops licenses, municipality fees, real estate registry, transportation, etc.

General Resources:
The Law has also envisaged general resources to be utilized for the benefit of local Funds development, the most important of which is imposing fees on sea and air travel tickets, on diesel and oil stations. 30% duty on maintaining Roads Fund and another annual 30% on Youths Care Fund, besides the governmental support defined for these funds in the state budget.
Finally. it is to be asserted that there is growing awareness on the part of the people about the importance of administrative discentralization system in terms of setting up elected local councils. Although, the opposition parties object to some articles of the local councils law, more than 20 parties are going to participate in the upcoming elections.

Abdul Aziz Mohammed
Economic Analysist
After the unification on 22nd May, 1990 and the Republic of Yemen was established, many unified laws have been formed. Among them a unified law for investment ( law No 22 for the year 1991), which was issued on the 10th April, 1991. The said law contains (10) sections, (3) chapters and (85) articles. This law states in Article (1) of section (one) a designation to promote and regulate the investment of Yemeni, Arab and foreign capital subject to the provision of the law (investment law), within the context of public state policy and the goals and priorities of the economic and social development plan in the following sectors:-
a) Industry ( excluding prospecting for the extra oil, gas and minerals which are granted by special agreements).
b) Agriculture and livestock resources including pisciculture and fishing.
c) Tourism
d) Health
e) Education and technical and vocational training
f) Transportation
g) Construction and housing
h) Any other economic activity specified by Deputy of the Council of Ministers upon a proposal by the board of Directors of the Authority (and here is the General Investment Authority which has been established later, its head office located in Sana'a and its branches in all main governates).
Through Section (2) of the law which deals with Goals and Benefits Accorded Projects article (A) states that State shall guarantee Yemeni, Arab and Foreign investors’ freedom to invest in Investment Policy in accordance with the provision of the law. And article (3) confirms that Arab and foreign Capital and Arab and Foreign Investors shall be at par with Yemeni Capital and Yemeni Investors without discrimination with respect to the rights, obligations, rules and procedures set forth in this law and the decrees and regulations enacted in execution thereof.
Exemption from compulsory price regulations and profit limiting is given to all projects products as per article (12) subject to the project not creating or indulging in monopolistic practices or trying to fix prices in overt or implicit agreement with other producers or vendors of similar products and services, but item (b) of the same article in cases of necessity, The council of ministers may enact compulsory price regulation in any of the following commodities, guided by the economic loss thereof:-
- Flour and bread
- Milk and infant food stuff
- Pharmaceuticals
If we have to highlight nationalizing projects in the law then we have to refer to item (a) of article (13) which says; Projects may not be nationalized or seized. Moreover their funds may not be blocked, Confiscated, frozen, withheld or sequestered by other than the courts of law and item (b) of the same article states that all or part of project real estate may not be expropriated save for the public wealth according to the law and against fair compensation on the basis of the market price of such real estate. In cases where the Invested funds, subject of such action, are foreign funds, such compensations may be freely transferred abroad regardless of any law or decree providing otherwise.
In regard to custom duty, Tax and other exemptions, mainly all projects are granted custom duty and Tax exemptions while others may also obtain other exemptions such as technology transfer revenue and loan interest exemption. Article (23) and (25) of the law explains clearly those matters but also it is advisable to all investors to go through the said law and its amendment law No (14) and the Investment guidance which covers very important procedures and contains other information and remarks such as annex No (1) which deals with negative projects list, list of projects which must have a Yemeni capital contribution, list of projects limited to Yemeni capital investors as well as definition of (A) and (B) Investment sector and addition of Investment field added to article (1) of the law such as electricity, water, telecommunication and investment banks.
Furthermore it is also known that the government is conducting a study that will introduce new amendments and additions to the existing Investment Law aiming to facilitate procedures of investment and encourage all investors (Yemeni, Arab and Foreign) to participle in the development of Yemen.

Preparations are underway to privatize Aden Refinery, as 51% percentage of the total value of the refinery would be offered for investment as has been declared by Prime Minister, Dr. Abubakr Al-Iryani to the Middle East Economic Digest. He also mentioned that the privatization of Yemenia Airlines is out of consideration in the time being. On another level, the World Bank Representative in Yemen, Gianni Brizzi that privatization in Yemen includes many services such as telecommunications, three cement factories, and the Drug Company.

The Government of Japan extends to the Government of the republic of Yemen the Debt Relief Grant Aid amounting three hundred sixty three million three hundred ninety nine thousand yen (Y 363,399,000), based on the resolution made by the Trade & Development board (TDB) of the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) to adopt debt relief measures for countries which have been facing serious difficulties in servicing their debts.
Notes to this effect were signed and exchanged at 10:00 a.m. today, between H.E. Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Sofan, Minister of Planing & Development of the Republic of Yemen and H.E. Mr. Akira Hoshi, Ambassador of Japan in Sana’a.
Since 1979 when Yemen started to repay its yen loans which had financed the rural water supply projects, the project for the construction of Ras Katneeb power station and the project for the construction of the berth of Hodaidah port, Japan has
been providing the Republic of Yemen with grants in amounts equal to the total interested and principal repaid.

The total number of tourists who visited the Hadramout and the Empty Quarter region last year exceeded 11,041 from various nationalities. Domestic tourists numbers have also increased as more than 43,840 tourists. The total number of nights spent by tourists exceeded 39,842 night. The expenditure of tourists during 2000 exceeded YR 126 million.
Ten Million US Dollars of Cotton Export
The total value of exported cotton during the agricultural season 1999-2000 exceeded 15,000 bundles with a total value of more than USD 10 million. The total area growing cotton in Yemen exceeded 120 acres expandable in the upcoming season.

His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifah Al Tahni has approved last week a number of agreements with the Yemeni government to enhance the economic, commercial, and technical cooperation including an agreement to enhance the government’s ability to avoid double entendre, tax shirking. The second agreement approved is aimed at encouraging investment between the two countries. A third economic agreement was approved so that it would help organize Yemeni labor groups currently working or intending to work Qatar.

Farouk Luqman
Journalist
As an observer of the Yemeni scene, being a long-time expatriate journalist, I have been following with special interest the rehabilitation of the economy after many years of frustrating impediments.
These are already well-known, starting with the almost woeful lack of infrastructure projects, from water supply to waste disposal, through the catastrophic civil war to the shortage of financial and specialist human resources.
Allied with other factors like bureaucratic red-tape they conspired to scare away not only foreign venture capital but also native and expat investments. Only a few brave Yemenis and the occasional expat company have been convinced of the long-term attraction of Yemen as a potentially promising investment haven, hopefully like what the East Asians states have become.
Much of what has been said here is now behind us. The disasters of the coalition government with a Marxist party in the southern region and the ruinous war that naturally flowed from it, are history. The internal security situation is a lot better. Oil flows smoothly, abductions and terrorist blasts have been curtailed. The state under President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the government led by Dr. Abdul Karim Al Iriani, have stood the test of time. The civil service which had been the bane of Yemen is said to be slowly evolving as I learn from those who have had some experience in working with it. Corruption can not be wiped out but may be controlled. It is a worldwide phenomenon and nobody claims that it can ever be eliminated anywhere. At the same time, the restoration of Aden’s free port status and the construction of the container terminals, have reinstated Aden on the world free ports’ map.
It was first made a free port by the British colonial government in 1850 and soon became the busiest port in the empire easily beating British, European, African and Asian ports.
For some reason, not totally unexpected in Marxist ideology, the port status was terminated. It expired with immediate effect and the whole of South Yemen suffered immeasurably. But nobody at the top seemed to care until the secessionist war was ended and Marxism abandoned. President Saleh embarked on a massive, costly, heart breaking but determined rehabilitation program.
I first visited Aden after 25 years of absence shortly after the war in 1994. It was an unforgettable shock. The place was a ghost town like some of those shown on old western movies. Buildings were easily condemnable as unfit for human habitation. The people were extremely poor, mostly jobless and worst of all, almost despairing for a better life ahead, not only for them, but even for their children.
My second and third visits restored my confidence in Aden and glimpses of its past glory which I had had the good fortune of living from birth until the Marxist seizure of power.
I had regained, through purchase, the house that I had built and lived in and then seen confiscated during that sorry period of South Yemeni history. There was a marked revival of commercial activity through the influx of expat money and that of northern investments in small hotels, restaurants, shops, workshops and tourist-oriented projects specially in the Tawahi area and beyond. Confidence was returning to the previously malnourished contemporaries who had been my classmates. Their children were slightly better off and the modest construction activity was providing jobs to some of the previously unemployed. A few privately-owned hospitals and polyclinics gave me a moral boost that should I fall sick during my visit, I will be well looked after, God willing. Of course my old press and publishing house had long been seized and sold, of course, without any thought of compensation let alone even a token payment. Thousands like me suffered a similar fate whether they were factory, kiosk or taxi owners, farmers or fishermen.
The economic climate in Yemen, re-united, politically stable, at peace with its neighbors, and internally tranquil, can only get better in due course given some or all the following conditions:
(1) A civil service that is motivated to serve and facilitate native, expat and foreign investments, not to obstruct it to the extent of driving them away.
(2) Continued internal peace and security, essential for investment and tourism.
(3) Enhanced privatizations because only private enterprise can shoulder the awesome task of nation-building from the development of telecommunications to municipal and urban development, the tourist industry, education and health care.
(4) Yemen deserves credit for a relatively free press. This should be upheld and made a standing order and an integral part of public life. Only a free press will tell the leadership that something is wayward or wrong and that the civil service is not doing its job properly. This newspaper, Yemen Times, is a shining example of the role that an enlightened, responsible but fearless press can achieve in the service of the nation.
If Yemen may appear to be a poor country, take a look outside its borders to see the enormous financial resources available to its four million expats who own scores of billions of dollars in ready cash, waiting for the right opportunity to start pouring into erstwhile Arabia Felix.

Karen Dabrowska

“I want to contact the people of the world, not make money’, insists Dr Maan Mageed, the Iraqi-born manager of Friends for Internet Corner, one of Sana’s newest internet cafes.
But even though Yemen was one of the first Gulf states to introduce internet, Mageed’s ambition is likely to remain a dream for the next few years.
The internet business in the country is monopolized by the Yemen Communications Company (Tel Yemen) owned jointly by the Yemeni government and British Cable and Wireless.
The demand for internet greatly exceeds the capability of Tel Yemen which blocks all sexually explicit sites and some political sites and censors all news and e-mail messages.
“The service is slow because there is only one server and all Yemen depends on that server,” complains Bilal Faris, a Palestinian who opened an internet cafe in the Haifa Technical Institute which he ran last April.
Tel Yemen is at the top of the hate list of most internet cafe owners and users. The service is slow, disconnections for no apparent reason are frequent and there is no competition, hence little incentive for improvement. It costs 220 riyals per minute to make an international telephone call while the same call can be made through the internet for only 20 riyals per minute. So Tel Yemen also puts a block on some international phone calls.
But despite their grievances internet cafe owners can still make a handsome profit: Tel Yemen charges four riyals per minute for internet use while the cafes charge their customers between five to ten riyals.
The name “internet cafe” is an import from the West. In Sana’a the so-called cafes do not serve drinks or food. But, unlike restaurants which are a male preserve, they are a public place where men and women can come together in a cordial atmosphere and discuss the why’s and wherefore’s of internet. Also, children frequently accompany their parents.
For Mahmood Al-Shaibani, of one of Yemen’s leading tourist agencies, The Universal Touring Company, the internet has been a money saver as well as a useful communication tool.
“It has saved us a lot of money as it is much cheaper than the fax”, Shaibani told The Yemen Times. “It is very encouraging to see young people getting interested in computers instead of chewing qat and acquiring other bad habits”.
But Shaibani admits that in one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, the cost of internet is prohibitive for ordinary people.
“For an individual user the bill would come to four to five thousand riyals per month: they can pay their household utility bills for that. A computer costs around $1000. For us that’s a lot of money”.
Shaibani does not surf the net - the service is too slow for that. He only goes to certain news sites and complains that if he wants to download material, like computer games for his son, it takes a long time.
“We must choose the best time to download material - the early morning is best”, he said.
According to the Yemeni Communications Company there are only 4500 subscribers nationwide and 30 - 35 percent of them don’t actually use the service. In Sana’a there are around 50 internet cafes, most of them in the city centre. In Aden there are around 20 but the service is a lot worse and Sana’a is definitely the city for internet users.
Internet use is also limited because of the 52 percent illiteracy rate in a country of 18 million. English is not widely spoken and around 80- percent of internet services and information are in English. Sometimes it is only possible to send e-mails and internet sites cannot be accessed.
Adnan Ali Al-Muraisi, the deputy manager of the Gausi Trading Company (GTC) which added an internet cafe to its range of services in December, complains that if a site contains an objectionable picture the whole site is blocked.
“People may need the information provided by that site - never mind the picture”, he protests.
Al-Muraisi, a computer engineer with a diploma in computer science and maintenance from the University of Mosul in northern Iraq, has the technical know how to outsmart Tel Yemen and use a proxy server to access “forbidden sites”.
But he keeps to the straight and narrow and puts up with the restrictions. “I don’t want to create problems for myself”, he says philosophically adding that his business is helping his country. As in the case of Mageed, money is not a major consideration.
Most of the customers at the internet cafes are the educated elite, business people and foreigners. Mageed estimates that 20 percent of his customers are female college students.
“Ten percent of the people who come here don’t know anything and I teach them”, he says with an enthusiasm which radiates from his philanthropic nature.
Sana’s internet cafes are as different as their owners: Iraqis hoping to move on to studies in Europe, Palestinians who have settled in Yemen, Yemenis who are keen to get involved in an industry of the 21st century in a city where the past is alive and well and ancient traditions co-exist in a happy symbiosis with sophisticated technology.
Friends for Internet is in an upmarket shopping complex with carpeted floors, the Haifa Technical Institute is in a renovated traditional building with gamariyas while GTC’s internet cafe has a business-like office environment.
There is general agreement among the cafes proprietors that internet has a bright future in Yemen.
“Its on the way to being popular”, Faris says. “This year is better than last year”.
Al-Muraisi is also optimistic about the future and there is a general consensus among the cafes’ owners that the monopoly of Tel Yemen will eventually come to an end.