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Al-Tariq: Aden weekly, 4-8-98.
(Independent)

Main Headline:
1- Workers at agricultural cooperatives in the southern governorates have not been paid their salaries for the last 5 years.
2- Citizens of Mareb, Al-Jawf, and Shabwa conclude their congress with a strong call for tribal solidarity and a vehement condemnation of acts of violence, subversion and kidnapping.
3- Yemeni migrant workers contribute a total of YR 10 million towards public utility projects in Dawaan, Hadhramaut.

Article Summary:
Constitutionality of Administrative Divisions
By Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Saqqaf
As usual, as soon as parliamentary sessions are adjourned for the summer vacation, republican decrees start coming fast and thick. The recent amendments to administrative divisions are a good example. Two new governorates have been created. This was done despite the following:
1- Draft laws for administrative divisions and local authority are still being reviewed by parliament.
2- Article 143 of the Yemeni Constitution has clearly specified the number, borders and basis of the existing administrative divisions.
Divisional amendments should be instituted on a national level, not on selected parts of the country. Also, such changes can only be carried out according to a ratified law, not by a republican decree. Republican decrees having the power of law can be issued during parliament's recess in cases of emergency and if there is a real necessity.

Article Summary:
"Algerization" By Ali Al-Saqqaf
The number of political and sectarian murders has increased in Yemen. Such an issue needs to be seriously addressed by the government as well as the opposition. The absence of a strong central authority and recurrent lapses of security are not the only factors behind this disturbing phenomenon. The Yemeni psyche seems to have incurred some disturbing changes.
If no unified stance is taken to put an end to the rise in these killings, Yemen is on its way to become another Algeria.

Article Summary:
Is There Capitalism in Yemen?
By Abdulkarim A. Al-Souswa
For privatization to succeed in Yemen, there must be a true capitalist system. There is no capitalist class in Yemen to transform the country from tribalism to civil society. What is here is a parasitic class that lives on trade in consumer goods, services and sales agencies of foreign companies. These sectors actually hinder the development of a true national capitalism.
The feudal system still prevails in the countryside where the means of production are still primitive and social relations are tribal. The proportion of people working in modern industry is negligible. Actually, there is no manufacturing, heavy or production industries.
Within such conditions, privatization would be a disaster. It will hand over state-owned enterprises to a weak parasitic class of owners, who transfer their money abroad instead of investing it to build a real industrial base.

Main Headline:
1- Parliamentary report warns against a real catastrophe in water, electricity and sanitation services in Sanaa, Taiz and a number of other Yemen cities. Successive Yemeni governments have done virtually nothing to improve these services, stated the report.
2- Governor of Sanaa blames 80% of the sanitation problem on the government and 20% on the citizens.
3- 27 people die in Taiz because of water pollution.
4- The Shawlan tribe in Al-Jawf hands over a number of its kinsmen to the authorities as hostages in return for withdrawing army troops from their area.

Article Summary:
Yemeni Women in Political Parties
By Ft'hiya Al-Haithamy
The ruling party and other opposition parties still give lip service to female participation in political life. Male politicians acquire some sort of democratic legitimacy by giving women a limited role in their political parties. In other words, women do not obtain their positions through hard work, but are bestowed upon them by men.
Nonetheless, a number of women have been able to occupy senior positions in some political parties through their sheer diligence and ideological beliefs.

Main Headline:
1- Fighting between various fundamentalist groups over control of mosques has spread from Sanaa to other governorates.
2- Family of Abdu Athrab who was killed in an attack on a mosque demands the implementation of the President's directive to apprehend the killers.
3- Islah leader, Sheikh Al-Zindani: "A foreigner is safe in our country. If he transgresses, then he must be advised by ordinary citizens to stop. Otherwise the matter is left to the authorities."
4- A bomb explosion rocks the home of the scholar and Haqq Party member Ali Hussain Al-Sharafi in Al-Mahabsha area.

Article Summary:
Economic Gamble
By Mohammed S. Al-Hadhiri
Yemen seems to be going round in a vicious circle due to lack of feed-back between the government's economic policies and the public opinion that criticizes them. Many economists see that the general state budget should be reduced by 70% in order to narrow the deficit. While the government wants to increase public spending to reduce unemployment.
The recent price rises are putting extra burden on the citizens. The economic reform program seems to have become a means of the state's acquiring more money from the populace.
There must be more reduction in public spending and developing the production bases of the national economy. As an example of the irrationality in public spending, the state had recently spent more than YR 50 billion on buying new official cars.

Article Summary:
Role of the Opposition:
By Alawi M. Ali
The opposition in a democratic country must adopt a clear role through which it can actively and fruitfully engage with the ruling authority in developing the nation. It can with ample justification oppose the government's declared intentions. The opinion of the opposition must be taken into consideration as it is the unofficial side of the government.
Mistakes are bound to arise in a new democracy. But as the President said; "shortcomings in a democracy can only rectified by more democracy."

Main Headline:
1- Five Yemeni volunteer fighters were killed in Kosovo by Serbian forces.
2- Several prominent RAY activists are arrested in Abyan in the aftermath of a peaceful demonstration organized by the party in protest over price hikes.
3- Arab Human Rights Organization enumerates several gross human rights violations because of the crisis in normalizing political life in Yemen.
4- Law experts indicate that kidnapping incidents cannot be eradicated simply by meting out severe punishments. They cited several factors behind this phenomenon: lack of respect for authority, poverty and deprivation of remote regions.

Article Summary:
Operation "Taj Bilquis"
The Palestinian ambassador to Yemen held a press conference to refute allegations made by the Yemeni weekly satirical newspaper - Summ Bumm. The allegations made against a number of prominent Palestinian and Yemeni figures indicated their involvement in the smuggling and sale of a quantity (a total of 65kg) of enriched uranium and red mercury to Israel.
The ambassador rejected all such allegations. One of the people implicated is Col. Ahmed Jibrael, chief of the Palestinian Preventative Security organ. Summ Bumm indicated that the material was smuggled from the Khawlan area in Yemen to Israel via Mareb and the UAE. Operation Taj Bilquis (the crown of Bilquis) was worth $1,650,000.

Article Summary:
Fishing in Hadhramaut By Mari' Hameed
The Hadhramaut coastline extends for 320km giving people there ample opportunity to exploit its great wealth of fish and other marine life. Alas, there are many problems. Boats belonging to large companies, both national and foreign, often come within the three-mile limit off the coast. Their big nets often sweep off fish farms and natural egg-laying places.
Local fishermen in small boats complain of their nets being swept off by the larger foreign ships.
Moreover, these big fishing trawlers catch all sorts of marine life, big and small, thereby depriving many of the bigger fish of their natural food. Huge amounts of dead small fish are then thrown off board, creating widespread pollution.
The Ministry of Fisheries does not have any sort of monitoring facilities or equipment in that area.

Article Summary:
World Bank & Reform By Iskandar Al-Asbahi
Many ordinary folk see the World Bank as an international organ set to further control and impoverish Third World countries. While others tend to exaggerate its abilities, portraying it is if it has a magic wand to cure all maladies.
Some experts believe that the World Bank aims to help developing countries get the optimum of their available natural resources in order to institute a viable economic and social development process.