BY IRENA KNEHTL*
FOR THE YEMEN TIMES

Excerpts from correspondence
I visited your web site and found it interesting. I lived in the Maldives until part of the way through high school and came here to New Zealand in 1974 to finish school and attend university. I returned to the Maldives for about 5 years but came back here in 1988. I am teacher by profession originally teaching economics, but now teaching UT.
My mother had a very good personal library consisting of just about every book, magazine and newspaper ever published in the Maldives. I used to read her book and that was how I became interested in history. My mother died about 11 years ago.
You have mentioned having a slave as a guardian who used to tell you stories about Maldives and this is how you got interested in Maldives in first place. It is interesting that some countries did not banned slavery until recently or never banned it at all. My father used to tell me that his grandfather had African slaves. It was not uncommon for wealthy Maldivian even in the early twentieth century to return from Haj with concubines who were of a nationality called circasian. They looked European.......

Thor Hyerdahl
I note that you studied in Norway and met Thor Hyerdahl known for his Kon Tiki expedition and author of the book The Maldive Mystery. I also met him, when he was in the Maldives. A very interesting person. Very close to his death I wrote to him about an old Maldivian poem which is believed to be fiction He took some interest but I heard of his death soon after. I suspect the poem was written based on some ancient historical fact. It talks of two goddesses, one in Siam, roughly what is now Thailand, and the other in Musimbi thought to be Mozambique. They maintained contact with each other via the Maldives.
Perhaps pre-Columbian ocean travel.....

Yemen in Indonesia
My mothers grandfathers grandfather was supposed to be a Moosa Baalawi from Hadramaout. Is there such place in Yemen.
Did you know that there is quiete a sizeable Yemeni community in what is now Indonesia. When I was a student in Wellington, in New Zealand, I was surprised to find a Yemeni student called Mohamed Shaiban who communicated fluently with Indonesians in the Indonesian language. Upon asking he said that he was brought up in Indonesia in a Yemeni community.
Some of these people must have passed through the Maldives.....

Poetry
Am glad you had a look at my late brothers poetry. I have to work a bit on the pages. My brother was one of those people who would not have lasted as you may be able to tell from some of his poetry. There is a double meaning in the most of his poems and sense of humor too. There is also a philosophical element. He makes a good social commentary. It would be really good if am able to trace my mothers Hadrami connections. Am looking forward to hear from you soon....

Family name
Many thanks for explaining the meaning of Baalawi. Of course, it makes sense now. I did know about the use of Ba and Bar by some Middle Eastern peoples as a kingship term in their names. However, I never thought that Baalawi was the family name of BaAlawi.
My grandfather like many Maldivians had an Arabic name as well as a Divehi name. His Divehi name was Bodufenvalhugey Seedi and his Arabic name was Hussain bin Mohammed al-Hussein. I look forward to the BaAlawi story from you.....

Majid,
What follows here are references to the BaAlawi family of Hadramaut was able to gather from from different English and Arabic sources as well as personal communications. They offer some perspective into the Indian Ocean politics, a real Indian Ocean dialogue and cooperation.

Statesmen of the Indian Ocean
The BaAlawi of Hadramaut - Statesman, scholars and traders of the Indian Ocean:
Having laid down their arms and given up political struggle, the Alawiyun became the carriers of a Sufi tariqa. The Second stage was that of the development and consolidation of alTariqa alAlawiya, the Alawi Sufi order, which lasted from the seventh century to the eleventh century A.H. , 13-17th century A.D. The tariqa was a simple one which did not have khalw, seclusion for purposes of spiritual exercises, and did not denounce worldly activities. The third stage lasted from eleventh to the fourteen century A.H, later 17th to 20the century A.D. During this period the Alawi ulama and awlija, saints, came to be known by the title of habib. This was the period of emigration to India and Southeast Asia....
Hadrami Arab and Indian Muslim traders has been engaging in trade and missionary activities in the region for centuries and constituted an integral part of the Muslim trade diaspora which stretched from Egypt to the Malay world. Today the whole of the Hadrami hierarchical segmend is still represented in Africa. At the top of the social hierarchy, the sharifs that are best known are AlSaqqaf, BaAlawi and AlAydarus. By playing on their prestige and by means of marriages contracted with ruling families, the sheriffs were able to establish political bases or take possession of power structures wherever they settled. There are numerous and often significant examples of their influence in the political domain. For example that BaAlawi sultans were secured in the Comoros, Kilwa, Zanzibar, Tumbatu and at Vumbaktu..... Members of the BaAlawi lineage continue to exercise various degrees of religious, social and political influence in late 20 century Kerala... Further south in the then Italian port of Mogadishu in 1891 one of the major chiefs was Sayyid Ahmed BaAlawi whose ancestor had come from Tarim seven generations earliers....Imam Abdalla ibn Alawi AlHadad published The Book of Assistance for Moslems, born in Tarim in the hills of Hadramaut. His ancestors The Alawi Sadda had for centuries produced generation after generation of great scholars, and Gnostics and sumnoners to the straight path.... Certainly no aristocracy so widely disseminated over Asia and Africa playing century upon century an important and consistent role in the Islamic community nor can any branch of the numerous Sharif and Sayyid families founded over 14 centuries ago claim a more varied sphere of activity of achievement than the Alawi Sayyids of Hadramaut.... The first focus of Sayyid emigrants eastwards from the Middle Ages was India. They settled in important commercial, cultural and political center, like Bijapur, and Surat, Ahmedabad, Haiderabad, Gujerat, Delhi, Calicut, Malibar... but the greatest emigrations of all were to Java, Sumatra, Atcheh and Malaya.... The Alawi Sayyids arrived there some time before the Dutch. An Alawi from Johore settled in Maindanao, marrying the Sultans daughter.....

22 generations later
Hi iren, got your mail. Just having a visit from two of my in laws. I look forward to hear more about the BaAlawi connection, Forgot to tell you earlier that my fathers lineage is from a person called Moslim Abbas of Hilaaly. He lived around the year 1300 and I am 22 generation from him the king- sultans of the Maldives since 14the century. His son married a member of a ruling dynasty called the Moon. The Soma dynasty reigned for many generations before becoming Moslims.....

Maldives in Brief
The Republic of Maldives is a group of islands lying in the Indian Ocean south west of Sri Lanka and south of the Indian sub continent stretching 800 km in length and 130 km in width comprising of 1190 coral islands with only 202 inhabited. Each island is surrounded by a shallow lagoon which is enclosed by a coral riff providing protection from the sea.
The population is 213.215 of which about 56.000 live in the capital Male being the trading center.
Being on the equator, the monsoons are mild.
The Maldivians are a mixed race.
Through out the Maldives Dhivehi, a language which belongs to the Indo-Iranian group of language is spoken.
The newly independent Maldives changed from Sultanate to a Republic on 11th November, 1968.
Maldivians are sunni Moslem. Islam is the religion of the State and the backbone of society.
The National Emblem of the Republic of Maldives comprises a Coconut Palm, Crescent and Star.
The economy is based on three principal activities, fishing, tourism, and shipping. Poor soil and limited availability of cultivable land limit agriculture. Traditional industry consists of local boat building, handicraft such as mat- weaving, jewellery making and lacquer work. Export oriented industries include tuna fish canning, and manufacture of garments.
The Maldives is a member of U.N. and most of specialized agencies. Maldives has diplomatic relations with over hundred countries. The country also enjoys membership in major international financial institutions.
Like the coral reefs that protect the islands, Maldivians maintain a commitment to keep their own world to themselves, and to maintain the Maldivian culture.

Yemen and Maldives
Possibilities of cooperation in the field of tourism, tourism management and joint investing oil export from Yemen
transport and logistics, Adeni free zone and product distribution centers, fishing, and fish canning, export of fresh fruits, and vegetables from Yemen.

For further information check the Maldives Royal Family Official Website: Majid's pages: http://www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/

Irena Knehtl is an economist and writer. She has been involved in the Indian Ocean dialogue for economic cooperation and exploring economic cooperation among the Red Sea countries.
Above is part of a larger undertaking tracing Yemeni contacts throughout the Indian Ocean and South East Asia.
For further suggestions and comments contact Yemen Times.

BY ABDUH M. ASSABRI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
AL-JAWF, BARAT
abdo@yementimes.com
The district of Barat is among Yemen's intriguing places. The district branches off into the three districts of Barat Almarashi, Barat al-Enan, which is thickly populated, and Barat Rajouza.
It is about, 160 km north of Sana'a and administratively it now belongs to al- Jawf governorate.
I recently went on a one-day mission to Barat to learn more about its people, climate, geographical division and tribal conventions. Here's what I observed.

It was nine o'clock in the morning when the car took us to Sana'a-Sada'a highway. It was quite an interesting to experience travel with people from Barat.
At first I had mixed feelings about traveling to such a hot-spot. I was accompanied by two restless nomads from al- Jawf, and some others from Barat in a Saloon car.
The two nomads were old enough. They weren't enthusiastic about their short tour to Sana'a. Perhaps they spent years wallowing in despair because of their telltale signs of being fed up with everything new in the city.
They had a feeling that signs of new technology are creeping into Sana'a. Original tribal norms and conventions are no longer felt as much. "Jawf has an incomparable beauty," one of them said.
Talk on tribal norms in Yemeni society took up the beginning of the journey.

Dry as a bone
The car took us up and down the hills and plains of Barat. The road was long, bumpy and dusty.
The land is so barren that there are huge cracks in it. It is covered with heaps of dirt and rough rocky terrains.
You can see in Barat untidy wooden huts built in crooked lines, and mud houses. For about eight years, the land of Barat has not had even a single drop of water.
That barren land has deeply affected day-to-day behavior. The people are as tough as their lands.
Just keep on indulging rough and tough talk. There is no room for laughing or cracking of jocks. I could hardly see smiling, innocent faces.
As a genuine tribesman, you have to show a strong adherence to the tribe's norms and conventions. Being a yes-man, means that you are under the Sheikh's thumb. He can settle disputes among tribesmen. That's why the government has little control over the eastern tribes.

Fully armed
Each tribal society in Yemen has its own set of conventions and norms, which each individual is supposed to conform to. In Barat, I was able to see people from different ages carrying weapons and parading around the district.
People there feel proud of their weapons. These evil machine "weapons" have become the main concern of tribesmen there. They don't think of buying presents or clothes for their kids, except hankering after rounds of ammunition and bullets. That was what I could detect in the company of the two nomads from al- Jawf.
It is astonishing to see them grasping their gun machines proudly in the face of being thoroughly frisked at military checkpoints outside Sana'a. Policemen at those checkpoints lack guts and never have the nerve to stop those who carry weapons.
It is easy for every one to hide a gun machine or anything more than that without even being inspected. It is a piece of cake, isn't it? Tribesmen are totally conversant with different kinds of weapons. I was also surprised to hear they possess not only light weapons, but heavy ones.
Each tribesman has a "complete arsenal". Their utmost dream is to possess different but sophisticated light and heavy weapons. They are fully armed and ready at any time for fighting or shooting.

Notorious spot
Tribesmen are not in al-Jawf's adjacent districts only, but also in the whole eastern desert. Areas have become a safe haven and magnet for kidnapping.
If we look back, we see that the Barat itself is notorious for violence and kidnapping operations. On July 15, 1999, four Belgian tourists along with their driver were kidnapped from Amran, 40 km. north of Sana'a and taken to Barat. They were released after four weeks.
On October, 30, 1997, Steve Carpenter was kidnapped from Sana'a and taken to Barat. He was released after four weeks also.
Such kidnapping incidents are maneuvered from Sana'a to press for projects and financial gains for kidnappers. In addition to this, the assassination of the great Yemeni revolutionary figure, Mohammed Mahmoud Azzubeiri also took place in Barat.
To sum up, this area and the entire eastern region prone to such violent incidents.

Questions of why arise.
One reason is that these areas have been deprived of developmental and social services for a long time. Lack of educational facilities, shortage of water, and want of health care facilities are some other factors leading to the outbreak of violence.
It is heartening to note that some developmental projects for these areas have been implemented, but some are also discontinued. Beneficial projects are grossly inadequate.
The need of the hour is to extend and implement such projects in order to bring this remote district into the national mainstream.

By Yemen Times Staff
Under sponsorship of Dr. Waheeba Farea, Minister of Human Rights, the Arab Human Rights Foundation (AHRF) in co-operation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung organization held a three-day discussion meeting about "Obstacles and Challenges that Female Candidates Face and How to Overcome Them."The event was in to support the female candidates in the next parliamentary elections April 27.
A number of heads of parties constituencies submitted papers to give an idea about the procedures that should be taken by parties to support females candidates and expose the difficulties parties face in helping females reach to the parliament.
A number of female candidates of previous parliamentary elections and local councils exposed their electoral experiences and impediments that prevented them to reach to the parliament and local councils.
Participants were divided into three groups to conclude the practical recommendations and suggestions that guarantee supporting female candidates, in condition that AHRF is going to follow and collaborate to activate these following recommendations.

Media
1)Invite all the bodies concerned to activate the legal protection for female candidates " protect the posters, electoral festivals ...etc).
2) Invite all the official, political and private mass media to give the female candidates similar space than the male candidate gets.
3)Invite the ministry of Religious and Endowments and the mosques imams and preachers to raise awareness about the women political rights as a nominee and candidate.
4)Invite the media to highlight the violations and transgressions that parties practice against female candidates.
5)Invite the mass media to prepare and implement programs to build awareness in favor of female candidates.
6)Invite the mass media to give space to shed light on the electoral elections of female candidates.

Civil and Party
1)Invite each party to give special percentage for female candidates of the total constituencies that expected to win.
2)Forme organization committee from of parties and civil organizations and journalists to follow and contact with parties that have announced it readiness to support the female candidates in the next parliament April 27.
3)Invite the parties and civil organizations to cooperate in preparing and implementing election awareness for female candidates.
4) Invite the parties to seriously select the female candidates according to the qualifications and the public attendance in each constituency.
5)Invite the parties to just distribution for constituencies that have a great effect on the nominees and not to margin the female candidates by giving them marginal constituencies that party does not expect any success.

Financial
1)Invite the parties to equally distribute the financial allocations for nominees without exception.
2)Invite the civil organizations and official and party institutions to establish special fund to support female candidates.
3)Invite the Supreme Election Committee and international donor organizations to offer the financial support to fund of non-nominees females.

The World Bank has approved a $23 million credit to boost investment climate, growth and new jobs in Yemen's port cities of Aden, Hodeidah and Mukalla.
The loan is the first in a three-phase initiative to develop Yemen's coastal cities over twelve years at a cost of $96 million.
The first phase of the Port Cities Development Program will center on Aden, Yemen's commercial hub, whose strategic location at the tip of the Arabian peninsula once made it the second busiest port in the world.
The program will begin with small-scale infrastructure investments, such as improving facilities at a local fish market and road works at an industrial estate, to fuel small business growth and build linkages to Aden's transport facilities. Training and investment planning will begin in parallel in both Hodeidah and Mukalla.
To attract private investors, the first phase will also focus on enhancing the ability of Aden's local government to deliver efficient services to the private sector through administrative modernization, automation of business transactions and information and communications technology.
Another component of the program will support an economic development strategy for Yemen's three largest port cities that would capitalize on their comparative advantages such as transshipment and vessel servicing in Aden, agro-industries in Hodeidah and fisheries in Mukalla.
Larger scale strategic investments will be planned for subsequent phases of the program in all three port cities.
With a gross national product per capita of US $460, Yemen's 18.5 million people remain among the poorest in the world. About 42 percent of households live below the poverty line, and approximately 25 percent are unemployed or underemployed. One of the challenges facing Yemen is to reduce its dependence on rapidly depleting oil reserves and turn to promising non-oil sectors and attract private investment.
"At these difficult moments for the country, this program serves to remind everyone of the tremendous potential of Yemen. It is a reminder of Yemen's rich trading culture, its fantastic location advantage, and its ability to plan long term for its future development," said Omar Razzaz, World Bank Country Manager who is leading the project.
The port Cities Development Program responds to the government of Yemen's need to develop an investor-friendly environment and turn its port cities into regional engines for growth by drawing upon its historical affinity to international trade.
The program falls in line with the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy for Yemen which includes generating jobs by creating an attractive investment climate and promoting good governance for improved service delivery to the public and business community.