Q: What is the role of sheikhs in stabilizing the political regime in Yemen and what was the reaction of the authority?
A: First, thanks to the YT for focusing on the role of sheikhs and tribesmen in the political and social life of Yemen. Sheikhs and tribesmen have been very instrumental in stabilizing the political regime in Yemen. They were the first to call and struggle for change. Their struggle was clear even before 1948 revolt and until the 26 September Revolution in 1962.
After the revolution, sheikhs and tribesmen were the army of the country. They hunt for the vanquished loyalists of the kingdom. They also defended the revolution and the republican regime. Furthermore, sheikhs and tribesmen fought hand in hand with the Egyptian forces to support the revolution. Tribesmen used to break into the forts of loyalists. After they controlled them, they handed these centers to the Egyptian forces to occupy.
Sheikhs played an active role in the 70 Day Siege, beside the military forces which was composed of many tribesmen.
When the war was over with the royalists and things settled down, Yemen entered a new era. We established the first Legislative Council, "The National Council" which composed many social dignitaries, sheikhs, scholars and educated people. I was the chairman of this council. The first achievement of this council was the issuance of the constitution of the country which remained in effect until 1990. The Election Law was another achievement of this constitution according to which the Shoura Council Elections were conducted in 1971. I was the head of this council.
Hence, sheikhs played great roles in moving the wheel of development in achieving stability of the political regime.

Q: Revenge problems, kidnapping incidents and carrying of weapons are associated with tribal sheikhs. Does getting rid of these phenomena require ending the control of sheikhs in Yemen?
A: Revenge problems have never been associated with sheikhs. Rather they are associated with the weakness of the security and judiciary bodies. If a murder is committed, there are no security apparatuses which track down the murderers, catch them, hand them over to the court to be tried. The inefficiency of these security forces causes the victim's family to take the law into their hands. They keep tracing murderers or any one of their tribe to take their revenge on them. This is obviously wrong. Had the security body been doing its job properly, there wouldn't be any excuse for revenge problems. Sheikhs are ready to cooperate with the authority to track down murderers and hand them over to the judiciary authorities.

Q: Could you spell out the reason behind your absence from the final session of the parliament to discuss the government program?
A: I apologized for not attending that session. I am against abolishing the scientific institutes. I have been supporting these educational edifice for twenty years, that is before the establishment of Islah and GPC. This edifice is for the good of Yemen and Yemenis.

Q: What is the stance of Islah regarding abolition of scientific institutes? Is it a way to restrict the control of Islah in the public arena?
A: Scientific institutes do not belong to Islah. They belong to Islam and to all the Yemenis. They are also affiliated to the central authority and do not belong to Islah. As for the stance of Islah, we do not need to take any measures to stop this decision. The decision is up to the president and we have nothing to inhibit him.
Islah is a big political party. It has a wide and strong foundation. Hence, eliminating the scientific institutes will never affect the party.

Q: Is the government measure to abolish scientific institutes a prelude to abolishing al-Eyman University?
A: There is no link between the two. Scientific Institutes belong to the government while al-Eyman university is a national university and has no relation with scientific institutes.

Q: Some activists in the civil society organizations see that sheikhs as a stumbling block in the way of developing the civil society and institutions. They stress that we can never achieve a civil society with the existence of tribes. What is your comment?
A: The whole country is composed of tribes. Almost all the people belong to tribes. Moreover, tribes in Yemen are civilized ones. They are willing to modernize within their traditions, customs, and religion. However, they completely reject any forms of false western civilization.

Q: Many politicians see that plurality has restricted the influence of sheikhs. Hence, they turned to the economic and banking activity. How do you see that?
A: Politicians always have different glasses in which to view things. When plurality was adopted, most of the sheikhs joined parties including the GPC, Islah, etc. It was up to sheikhs to choose the party he approved of.
Economic and trade activity is not restricted to a specific class of people. Sheikhs have paid heavily for the revolution and unity and they have the right to take up any field they feel interested in.

Q: How successful are conferences held by sheikhs in collaboration with other groups in society or with the authority? And how active is the second party affiliated with sheikhs?
A: Yemeni tribes have held many conferences like the Amran conference headed by martyr Mohammed Mahmoud al-Zubairi, Khamer Conference which martyr Mohmmed Mahmoud called for, however, was killed before it was held. Then, I headed it.
The Al-Janad conference was also held in Taiz. All of these conferences aimed at supporting the national interest, and to go on the right track of revolution realizing the six aims of the revolution. They were also to save Yemen from getting into useless turmoil due to some reckless officials or foreign intervention. We are proud that these conferences were a success and realized all the objectives they aimed at.

Q: What is the function of the Educational Affairs Office?
A: It supervises the educational activities on the principal and teacher levels, manages and distributes teachers to institutes.

Q: What is the mechanism of choosing teachers and textbooks?
A: Islamic and linguistic textbooks are determined by a committee of 'Olama' (Religion Scholars). This is what distinguishes the institutes' textbooks from the governmental ones. The rest of textbooks are the same as those taught at schools.

Q: How are the Islamic and linguistic textbooks chosen?
A: An ad hoc committee of a number of scholars was formed in the 1980s under the directives of the President to determine these textbooks. Since then the textbooks have developed and improved in harmony with the other religious institutes in the Arab Countries away from biases and extremism. In other words, outlining the Islamic curricula was on the bases of finding a moderate background that does not incline to any of the five Islamic doctrines. This has been given more attention in order to preserve unity of the nation. This is one of the highest objectives of our curricula.

Q: What is your reaction to the present campaigns against institutes?
A: I wonder if there is a difference in the objectives of education in Yemen. I can not think of any. I can hardly see any difference between the curricula of the institutes and the government schools, expect what I have already mentioned. Intensifying the curricula of Islamic and Linguistic studies is just similar to what the specialized institutes do. It is a matter of conspiracy, in my opinion. But if there are doubts about the curricula we teach, then we have to point fingers at all the officials who served at offices since the establishment of these institutes. Let my ask those who are leading the campaign against us, why they have been silent throughout this period?

Q: Chairman of the GPC parliamentarian bloc Sheikh Sultan Al-Barakani said that the Islah spends US$ 7 billion from the state budget each year?
A: This reflects the acute stupidity of Sheikh Al-Barakani. Does he mean that the Minister of Finance and those at the Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA) are dishonest and that he is the patriot and the guard of the nation's interests?
What the Institutes get from the Ministry of Finance does not exceed 600 million rials per year. This is spent as salaries for more than 35 thousand teachers who belong to different political parties.

Q: Is it true that students must be recommended by the Islah party in order to be accepted?
A: This is absolutely misleading. The scientific institutes are spread all over the country and not all Yemenis belong to Islah. These institutes have been establish to give knowledge to all Yemenis disregarding their political affiliation.

Q: How many students have graduated from these institutes?
A: Thousands have graduated from these institutes. Some of these graduates are police officers, doctors, engineers, university professors, judges, scholars, etc. They hold good positions in different public and private sectors. So where is the problem since all of us are Yemenis and not strangers?

Q: How many students are currently studying at these institutes?
A: About half a million.

Q: It is rumored that institutes occasionally organize camps which are always exploited for party teachings. What is your comment?
A: This is not true. The students belong to different political parties and some are independent.

Q: How much do the institutes get from the state for the teacher's salaries etc.?
A: Seven billion rials is spent as salaries for the employees in a year, in addition to 120 million rials which is spent on the Holy Quran Centers and the Authority Offices in the Republic. This is, of course, not enough.

Q: How are graduates employed?
A: According to the general plans of the Civil Service Ministry. Presently we have thousands of students who learn the Holy Quran by heart. We no longer need Arab teachers who have memorized the Holy Quran.

Q: How many non-Yemeni teachers are there?
A: Two thousand. They used to be more but many of them have been replaced by Yemenis. The remaining are in charge of the rare fields of specialization and experts in the conducting of examinations.

Q: How do these teachers come to teach at your institutes?
A: They come according to cooperation protocols between Yemen and their countries such as that signed between Yemen and Sudan. The institutes also make contracts with a number of Arab teachers who are experienced and well-qualified.

Q: Do institutes receive support from sources other than the government?
A: Institutes do not receive any support form any foreign sources. What happens is that sometimes some national and immigrant businessmen or merchants support building centers for teaching the Holy Quran or institute more classes or departments in their villages or districts.

Q: What are the difficulties the institutes face?
A: Corruption prevailing in many government offices and lack of financial resources are the most prominent challenges. For example, the 6 million rials the institutes get on a monthly basis falls short of the needs of the 35 thousand teachers and all of the operation costs for the 1400 institutes .

Q: How do you explain the present campaign against the institutes at the current time?
A: Education should not be dealt with as a political matter. There are many other demanding issues which we should concentrate on and try to solve. Thousands of schools and institutes need windows, chairs, blackboards, chalks, books, etc. Sometimes one book is shared by a number of students. Such problems must be tackled instead of depleting energy and resources on conspiracies. In the long run, we will remain Yemenis and none of us will be able to drive the other out. These institutes have proved that they are better than schools and parents of students will testify to this.

Q: What do you think of the decision?
A: I never expected this to happen. There should have been a national conference combining all political powers, academicians, and specialists to study the positive, as well as the negative aspects, of each system of teaching. Then we can support what is positive and remove what is negative. This is in my opinion of what should have been done.

Q: Any last comment?
A: We must join hands to build up this country away from political conspiracies. People should understand that the country is just like a ship and if it sank, all of us would drown. They should also understand that education is the backbone for building generations. Any mistakes in the implementation of this policy would result in the degradation of posterity

Excerpts:
Q: What are the objectives of this visit? Do you have plans to establish a permanent Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark here in Sana'a?
A: The Kingdom of Denmark and the Republic of Yemen have always maintained good and friendly relations. It is true that this is my first business visit to Yemen as the ambassador of Denmark, but the political counselor of our embassy in Riyadh has been paying regular visits to Yemen. We also have an Honorary Consul in Yemen, Mr. Ahmed Hayel Saeed Anam, the General Manager of Hayel Saeed Anam Group of Companies. He takes care of the consular matters between Denmark and Yemen and deals with some commercial inquiries as well. Therefore, for the time being there is no plan to establish an independent embassy in Yemen. We have the Royal Danish Embassy in Riyadh to attend to the Danish interests all over the Arabian Peninsula.
As for the objectives out of this visit, we have come to collect information about the new government. We have taken due note of the fact that Yemen has nominated a female Minister for Human Rights, which has placed it among the forefront countries in the world in regards to this particular issue. We are also here to learn about the policy of the new government.
Another objective of this visit is to assist the commercial opportunities between Denmark and Yemen and to follow developments of the Democracy and Human Rights Program, which is the most important project of the Kingdom of Denmark in Yemen. This is to support NGOs and Human Rights organizations along with the rights of women in general and women in prisons in particular. The last but not least intention of the visit was to obtain an over all assessment of the security situation, so as to support the Danish tourism in Yemen.

Q: How successful was your visit in reaching its goals?
A: In our 5-day visit we have been to Sana'a, Taiz and Aden. Regarding the political situation I think I have got a very good and broad picture because we have been in touch with so many people. Regarding the human rights program we are running, I can only establish that the NGOs we are working with have been doing very serious and professional work. In terms of commercial prospects, we have concluded that it is time that more Danish companies come here and investigate the possible areas for trade and investment. In far as tourism is concerned, I believe that it is best for tourists groups from Denmark to be accompanied by a professional guide who knows Yemen's conditions very well. They should also stay away from the remote areas where a number of incidents had occurred in the past. I hope from what I was told that we could safely conclude that tourism is safe in Yemen and recommend tourists to visit the country. However, I have to say that the final decision to recommend tourists to visit Yemen would take time, though we would try to take the decision very soon.

Q: In what aspects do you plan to expand your investment commercially?
A: Our role is to study the situation and recommend. However, it is very clear to us that Yemen has a lot of problems to deal with; there is unemployment and the investment situation and the infrastructure should be improved. But, I also think that business companies might find better potential and possibilities in the years to come. Our job is to draw the attention of the Danish companies to the possibility of investing in Yemen, but they are the ones who should eventually decide on whether they should invest in Yemen or not. But, we can pinpoint the specific sectors where Denmark is active in and tell the Danish companies that Yemen offers a good market.
The Aden Free Zone is another possibility for new business opportunities. As a whole I could establish with my own eyes that Aden needs new economic revival.

Q: What are the other interests of Denmark in Yemen?
A: The purpose of this visit is the assessment of the present situation; where is Yemen now. Ministers and businessmen have explained their views regarding the present political situation. We will report what we were told and what we have seen back to Denmark. As for cultural aspects, if you consider the tourism part of it, then we can say there might be some Danish interest in this particular field in future. But to be fair, the promotion of the democracy and human rights project is our most important official program that we intend to go about in Yemen.

Q: How do you assess the democratic experience Yemen has gone through especially that we have the first female minister of Human Rights?
A: Time and again, I have heard from the diplomats and businessmen that the new government represents " new blood". However, government business is an internal Yemeni affair and I shall not give any judgment. I realize that the new government has little time. It has to act fast within two years until next election. But you have new ministers in many key ministries, so I hope, like all the people I talked to, that this would lead to a better future for the country. We along with many other European countries will be following the developments closely. Yet, we say that no one can make Yemen a better country other than the Yemenis themselves. I would like to mention that apparently large sums of Yemeni capital are invested abroad. If the capital comes back and is invested in the homeland, it may make a great impact on the investment picture of the country.
Yemen is a country with great potential and so much could indeed be done.

Q: What kind of aid is the Kingdom of Denmark providing to Yemen?
A: Like I mentioned before, the democracy and human rights project is our main concern in the Republic of Yemen. It started 5 years ago, and the amount of money earmarked for this project is only USD 100,000 per year. We give it as a form of aid to people working in those particular sectors that promote human rights and democracy. In other words, we try to select NGOs working on human rights and women's issues to support. We have also tried to provide aid to women in prisons so that they get legal advice. We have sponsored seminars and the Yemen Times also participated in seminars abroad. We will continue to support such projects in the future.
This is the aid we provide to the non-governmental sector. As for the governmental sector, we have provided Yemen's parliament with hardware and software and have given them language training. Currently, we are preparing for an official visit of a delegation from the Danish parliament to Yemen so as to meet the Yemeni parliament and see how it works. Our program includes steps to enable people from the Yemeni parliament to visit Denmark and see how the Danish parliament works. Hence, this will probably provide an opportunity for the two houses of parliament to study the possibilities of assisting and learning from each other. This project has been adjourned a couple of times. It might take place this year.

Q: Any final comments you would like to add?
A: I should say that on the personal basis, this visit to Yemen has been a distinguished experience. Yemeni people are very kind and very hospitable. It's a beautiful country and I am looking forward to coming to Yemen again.

Mr. Henrik Curtz is the Minister Counselor of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Riyadh dealing with agriculture. He has been working with the Danish Embassy in Riyadh for the past 5 years, before which, he had been to Rome, Brussels and to Athens, and at the end of this summer he would probably be appointed in the Danish Embassy in Moscow. Nadia Al-Saqqaf met with Mr. Curtz and filed the following interview.

Q: Is there a particular message you would like to bring forward in this interview?
A: Yes, actually the main problem we are facing in the field of agriculture is the ban on Danish and European meat products by GCC countries, and now Yemen. Danish products have been hit severely by this ban. Such bans are not quite new as EU countries had suffered problems affecting food trade, such as the Mad Cow disease in the UK and the dioxin problems in Belgium, when poisonous material of this harmful substance was found in some food products. However, the problem now is that many countries are taking the whole of Europe regarding food safety, which is not fair. Denmark was affected in the past, specifically in the last year for a few months following the discovery of a single case of the Mad Cow disease in February 2000. The ban was also on dairy products. I can openly say that this was not a correct decision, due to the fact that this disease is not transmitted through milk products, and fortunately it was abolished after a very short time.
Nevertheless It was a typical commercial shock; because the volume of our diary products exported to the region is quite huge. Still, the ban on meat products remains until today. We have tried throughout the years to give ourselves a clean profile recognized everywhere as a country producing safe and high quality food products. We worked hard in this regard to maintain this respectful reputation. We held a number of seminars last year and this year as well in the several GCC countries. All these seminars were conducted by our Embassy and by Danish experts who came to clear the picture regarding Danish products in the GCC countries. Many businessmen and investors in the public services in the region attended those seminars and asked many questions. It was an interactive experience where information on subjects of interest was exchanged. The exporters themselves financed these seminars. We are keen to continue this kind of work in other countries including Yemen; it all depends on the funds available and the local interest that we sense.
One very important point here is that through such activities we get closer to the local administrations. When there is a problem we know whom to contact and vice versa. We would like to have the right people approach us and have ourselves involved in problems related to food safety issues in the region. We are eager to provide information about food safety because there is a lot of experience we could share in this regard.

Q: What are your impressions about Yemen, specifically in the field of agriculture?
A: In my field of work, which is food and agriculture, my concern is the potential of viewing Yemen as a consumer country. What are the demands of the consumer here? Are they getting broader? Do people have more money than before? We look at the infrastructure of trade. Is there a possibility for a certain product to be distributed to a wide range of consumers? If not, why? These are among the questions, which we will try to find answers for. What we can see is that the average income has not gone up. In fact, it has been declining. This is a problem to be understood by Danish exporters, who are the ones interested in markets. This does not exclude that we are doing very well in terms of milk products, in particular milk powder, Lurpak butter and cheese and fertilizes, which constitute of around 95% of all our food exports to Yemen. This totals to about USD 14-15 million. There is no doubt that this figure would increase because of the increase of the population in Yemen. We can see that because there is an excellent infrastructure for trade, local companies were able to market the products to very remote areas in the country. During this second visit of mine to Yemen I have got a better impression about the companies dealing with Danish products. The Yemeni companies are extremely capable; I think the Danish companies have found the right partners. I am happy to see how the products have been marketed, and this shows that there could be no limits to the corporation that could take place. There is a lot of potential for future cooperation between Yemen and Denmark, particularly in the food sector.