Issue 36- September 7th thru September 13th 1998, Vol VIII
By: Adel Muqbil
AL-WAHDAWI: Sanaa weekly, 1-9-98. (People's Nasserite Unionist Organization)
Main Headline: 1- The government introduces new amendments to the local authority law, and refers back to parliament for deliberations. 2- Oil pipeline no. 12 (64km from Safir refinery) is punctured by tribesmen demanding compensation for water wells flooded by Mareb Dam. 3- Yemeni Minister of the Interior reviews report on Saudi investigation into the death of 14 Yemenis in the Asir area of Saudi Arabia. 4- Public Funds Prosecutor investigates the sinking of the cement-loaded Syrian ship, Al-Imad, off the Mukallah Port. 5- Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Ghalib Ali Jamil escapes a hail of bullets in a robbery attempt while on his way home with his daughter.
Article Summary: Local Governance - editorial
Dr. Al-Iryani's government has denuded the Local Authority Law of almost all semblance of democracy. It has been amended and referred back to parliament for the third time. The government has even changed its name to the Local Administration Law.
It seems that virtually powerless local councils will be created, attesting to the elections "comedy." The excuse often given is that there is not much public awareness at the local level. The authority's persistence in making the people feel hopeless of democracy's ability to achieve anything, will eventually make the latter resort to other means of change.
AL-TARIQ: Aden weekly, 1-9-98. (Independent)
Main Headline: 1- Egyptian authorities express astonishment at the frequency with which silver is smuggled from Yemen and caught at Cairo airport. Lax security at Yemeni airports is blamed. 2- A campaign of arrests is being conducted following two Muallah bomb explosions last Thursday. 3- Chairmen of several German travel and tourism companies are to make a direct flight from Frankfurt to Seioun to find out about the regions potential for tourism. 4- A Yemeni citizen beseeches the Minister of the Interior not to deport her Syrian husband. He has been living and working in Yemen for the last 9 years and has 3 children. 5- A member of the ruling PGC secretariat in Hadhramaut forges the signature of his boss to obtain free airplane tickets for 9 of his relatives. 6- Several Lahaj farmers are detained by police to force the hand-over of their lands to a person claiming its ownership.
Article Summary: Child Rights Violations
Participants at an Aden seminar on juvenile delinquency point out serious child right's violations. It was indicated that about 62% of Yemeni children are not registered in the civil registry records. This leads to very serious legal and social consequences.
It was also disclosed that youngsters are imprisoned with hardened criminals convicted of murder, sodomy, alcohol drinking, etc. Some juveniles are shackled with iron chains and beaten up. This is a flagrant violation of the Yemeni law, which stipulates allocating special borstals and reform centers.
AL-WHADA: Sanaa weekly, 2-9-98. (Official)
Main Headline: 1- The President visits the Bajil Directorate, Hodeida. 2- General Directorate of Criminal Investigations apprehends a man believed to have essential equipment from a power station, leaving people in the area without electricity for the last 3 years. 3- 17 Hadhramaut MPs enumerate their governorate's needs for health-care facilities.
Article Summary: False Yemeni Passports
By Abdullah Al-Hadhrami
The Yemeni government has not yet received any reply from the Tanzanian government to its request for information on the Yemeni-passport holder accused of the US Embassy bombing. The accused name, Khaled Salim, has not been found on the Passport Authority records.
The Yemeni Embassy in Dar Al-Salaam was broken into in February, 1995, and 94 blank Yemeni passports were stolen. Also, many false Yemeni passports went into circulation following the 1994 war against secession, when passports and official rubber stamps were stolen from passport offices in Aden and other southern governorates.
A number of Arab and African citizens with false Yemeni passports sought asylum in several European countries, under the pretext that they were persecuted in Yemen for converting to Christianity.
A Palestinian man was recently arrested while attempting to get a Yemeni passport using a false Yemeni personal ID card. He tried to bribe a passport authority officials with $2,000. Similar cases have also been discovered recently.
AL-THAWRI: Sanaa weekly, 3-9-98. (Yemeni Socialist Party - YSP)
Main Headline:
1- The so-called Aden Islamic Army has declared an all-out war on US interests and property in all parts of Yemen in retribution for the "cowardly" US raids on Sudan and Afghanistan. 2- The 3rd bomb in 20 days went off near the Political Security office in Zanzibar, Abyan. Two passers-by were seriously injured, and a teacher in the next-door school was arrested in connection with the incident. 3- 32 young men join the YSP in Abyan. 4- 4 trade unionists - from the Oil and Petrochemical Workers Union - are arrested and 1,000 workers go on strike demanding higher wages and health insurance. 5- 'Journalists Without Borders' condemns the arrest of the journalist Ali Dahmas in Abyan. 6- A special anti-terrorism department will soon be formed in Yemen with US financial and technical assistance.
Article Summary: The Truth About Terrorism
Yemen has been mentioned many times recently in connection with the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Yemen is considered by Western circles as an important place were terrorists get training and obtain false Yemen passports. The Yemeni authorities are giving unconvincing justifications in this regard.
In a report by the Daily News, misleadingly leaked by certain sources, it was alleged that YSP elements received para-military training at some of Osama Bin Laaden's camps. It was also implied that these YSP people were also involved in the bombing of the two US embassies.
The truth is exactly the opposite. Bin Laaden's men have always targeted the YSP, including recently attempting to assassinate the YSP Secretary General, Moqbil. Some members of terrorist groups linked to Bin Laaden are now members of the ruling People's General Congress.
Under the protection of some very influential people in authority, terrorists are receiving training at the Hatat camp in Abyan, for example.
AL-RAY AL-AAM: Sanaa weekly, 1-9-98. (Independent)
Main Headline: 1- People in Taiz demand compensation for damages to their property when the Sabaa contracting company, building the Taiz-Sabr road, failed to remove debris blocking the course of flood water. The strong current diverted its course towards the peoples' houses. 2- A big mass rally was organized in Sanaa in protest over the US bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan. 3- Workers in the Mukallah Fish Canning Factory strongly reject its intended privatization. 4- Yemeni coast guards have apprehended 3 foreign ships fishing illegally off the coast of Hodeida. The ships' owners are fined a total of $100,000. 5- Financed by the Chinese government, work on the 'Friendship Fly-over' will resume after the rainy season.
Article Summary: Sheraton Manager Detained
The Sanaa Court of Appeal has ordered the Sheraton hotel to pay its former employee - Aziz Tanios - $32,925 in addition to legal fees as a compensation for his unfair dismissal. If the money is not paid, the court will sell a Mercedes car belonging to the hotel, which was seized for this purpose. If the sale of the car raises insufficient monies the court will seize some of the hotel's assets. The Sheraton's manager, a Swiss national, was detained for several hours in connection with the case.
AL-UMMA: Sanaa weekly, 3-9-98. (Al-Haqq Party)
News Review: 1- An armed confrontation between army troops and a group from the Dahm tribe of Al-Jawf leaves one tribesman wounded. The clash followed the apprehension of an army patrol by the tribesmen. 2- Successive massive explosions destroy an arms depot belonging to the Political Security apparatus last Tuesday in Dhamar.
3- The government opts for local "administration" instead of local "authority." 4- The director of projects and constructions at the Education Office in Dhamar was safely released from captivity. He was abducted by the Hadaa tribe, which demands the implementation of several public-services projects in their area. 5- Strike by workers at the Yemen Hunt Oil Company reduces oil production by 40%. 6- A public scare was unleashed by the discovery of polluted fish on the Aden shores. The pollution is believed to have been caused by the dumping into the sea of unwanted types of fish and other marine life caught by some fishing trawlers. 7- A man is being questioned by the Hodeida police in connection with the smuggling of women and children into a neighboring country. 8- Blood, medicines and alcohol are smuggled into Yemen through Yemen's Red Sea coastline near Khwakha and Mokha. These large operations are reputed to be protected by some influential people.
