There have been two negative developments in Yemen's recent experience with kidnapping and terrorism. These have, unfortunately, complicated the regime's local and international relations.

I. NEW WATERSHEDS:
During January 1999, four distinct watersheds have been crossed in Yemen's bad experience with kidnapping and terrorism. These are:

1. For the first time ever, the nation witnessed a break-in by kidnappers to snatch a hostage. This was how John Brooke was taken.
In all previous cases, hostages were grabbed from the streets - while driving, walking, or jogging. We now have a case of someone being taken away from an enclosed compound. The next logical step is for kidnappers to break into homes/offices in order to snatch hostages. This is a bad omen.

2. For the first time ever, kidnappers have placed political demands - some local and others international.
That was the case with the Abyan kidnappers who demanded changes in the political structure of Yemen, as well as in the world's attitude towards Iraq, Sudan, and Libya.

3. For the first time ever, the Yemeni authorities used force to liberate hostages. Although there have been some skirmishes between government forces and tribal groupings in previous kidnapping cases, the Abyan case was the first situation in which military/security forces stormed the hideout of kidnappers in order to liberate hostages.

4. For the first time ever, foreign experts came to Yemen to investigate cases of violence and terrorism. This is the case with the ten FBI and four Scotland Yard investigators who came here following the Abyan case.

II: ACCUSING THE MEDIA:
The other complication has to do with the rising level of tension between the authorities and the independent and opposition media. Senior politicians of Yemen, including some highly educated ones, repeatedly tell media personalities to team up with them against the terrorists because "This is a national crisis". They insist that the media should show more patriotism by supporting the politicians against the terrorists.

There are three problems with this logic.

1. Wrong Assumption:
The politicians, by their very suggestion, imply that the media support the terrorists and kidnappers. They reach this conclusion because the independent and opposition newspapers report the demands and positions of the terrorists/kidnappers as they square off with the authorities.
I can say that neither the Yemen Times nor any other local newspaper that I know of supports the kidnappers/terrorists. We simply report their demands and positions because it is part of our job. We try to present readers with the two or more sides to any conflict.

2. Misuse of Patriotism:
There is no reason for officials to paint independent and opposition journalists as less patriotic or less concerned about Yemen. They are as patriotic as anybody else, and they serve the country in their own way. Therefore, it does not become the authorities when they label individuals who do not take orders from them as spies or agents of international espionage or intelligence circles. Such accusations only show how intolerant our officials are.

3. National Interest:
Some officials present themselves as an embodiment of the nation and national interests. They remind me of Louis XVI who said, "L'etat, c'est moi." So, if you disagree with the politicians, they say you oppose the national interests of Yemen. How ridiculous.
If anything at all, these same politicians are actually harming Yemen and the national interest because of their selfish behavior, greed, nepotism, and corruption.

III: CONCLUSION:
All sides - local and international - must join hands in the fight against terrorism and kidnapping. But there are rules to this. In order for the people of Yemen and the world community to join hands with the Yemeni state in this fight, it must first shape up. Shaping up calls for changes, especially the need to clean up the prevalent corruption, replacement of inefficient officials, more just distribution of the nation's resources to all regions and citizens, etc. Of course, a firm hand is needed to fight terrorism. But force alone won't do the job. The authorities have to regain their legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the people of Yemen.

Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf,
Chief Editor - Yemen Times.

 

The economic effects of the recent violence in Yemen has been disastrous to the tourism industry. Many economic activities have suffered, and are now exposed to the risk of bankruptcy. The following are examples:

1. Hotels Suffer:
The large hotels have seen a dramatic drop in their occupancy rates. In some hotels, guests occupy less than 20% of the rooms.

2. Airlines Suffer:
Most of the airlines serving Yemen now fly nearly empty. A European airline flew into Sanaa last week carrying only 28 passengers. Yemenia flew in from Paris last week with only four passengers on board. If this situation persists, services to Sanaa may be canceled.

3. Tour Operators Suffer:
There have been many cancellations of tour groups. Adding insult to injury, some groups simply decided to go to neighboring Saudi Arabia and Oman, whose adjacent regions have terrain and culture similar to those of Yemen.

President Hosni Mubarak, faced with a similar situation after the Luxor tragedy hit Egypt, personally visited the site of the events on the next day and sacked the governor, the minister of the interior, and the director general of security. He invited senior officials, industry entrepreneurs and travel/tourism journalists to discuss the issues. He ordered an immediate international campaign. In less than 6 months, Egypt's efforts to shore up the tourism industry were successful.

The Yemeni leadership must consider similar steps in order to salvage our tourism industry. In the meanwhile, the Yemen Times decided on an initiative of its own. We propose setting up the Yemen Committee to Save Tourism. Its task would be to prepare an immediate action plan. We hereby invite industry entrepreneurs- decision-makers representing first-class hotels, airline agencies, tourism officers, and tour operators, as well as government officials to a meeting.
The meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2nd at the Yemen Times. Please call (268-661, ext. 301) to attend.

Yemen Times

 

President Ali Abdullah Saleh will bestow the Unity Medal on Dr. Helga von Strachwitz, Ambassador of Germany in Yemen. The official awards ceremony will take place before a farewell audience, scheduled early in February, a few days prior to her departure on Feberuary 8, 1999.

The first female ambassador to serve in Yemen, Ms. Strachwitz has done a lot to elevate Yemeni-German relations to an all time high during her more than 4 years of tenure in Sanaa. She was able to pursuade her government to stay the course of friendship with Yemen in spite of 8 cases of kidnapping or German nationals, 2 court cases between German and Yemeni firms, and other ordeals.
She goes back to serve as director of the African Department in the Foreign Office.