04 - January 25th thru January 31st 1999, Vol IX
By: Sameer Farawna
AL AYYAM
Sanaa, bi-weekly 23/1/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
-A court in the self-proclaimed republic of the land of Somalia in northern Somalia has condemned 40 Yemeni fishermen for illegal fishing in its waters and fined them $21,000.
-Yemen's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Abdul Qader Ba Gammal has denied the existence of a diplomatic crisis with Britain. He said in a telephone interview with an Arabic Daily based in London that Sanaa maintains strong relations with London.
-Two explosions on 17 and 20 of this month have targeted the oil pipeline extending from Mareb governorate to Ras Issa. Nothing has so far been declared on damages inflicted or the party behind the blasts.
-A number of Yemeni lawyers and lawmakers have asked the government to ask for the handing over of the so-called Abu Hamza Al Masri, currently residing in Britain, over his statements in Al Jazira space channel in which he advocated the launching of terrorist attacks that destabilizes security and stability in the country.
-The Saba' private airline company has complained against Yemenia's attempts to block its operation on the pretext that the latter monopolizes air traffic in the country. Saba's complaint, which reached the Council of Ministers, was referred to the Ministry of Legal Affairs which decreed that the Yemeni constitution prohibits monopoly.
An Article Summary: Arrest of British Nationals Increases Tensions
A senior British official has charged that Yemen's arrest of a number of Britons in Aden recently on charges of planning sabotage acts in that country had increased tension between the two countries.
He added, in radio statements, that Yemeni-British ties had witnessed further complications following those arrests.
Meanwhile, Bader Salmeen Ba Sunaid, lawyer of the five Britons said that he was not able to meet with his clients.
The lawyer said that he could not read all the papers of the case and hoped that he would be able to do so soon. He also hoped that the concerned authority would allow the defendants to make phone calls to their families and to allow a doctor from Britain to check them.
Ba Sunaid said that he did not know of any fixed date for the start of the trial.
AL THAWRA
Sanaa, daily 23/1/99
(Official)
Main Headlines:
-Revenues of Hodeida Airport Customs Department have increased 120% in 1998 compared to the year before.
-An 18 year-old young man mistakenly fired his automatic gun only to kill his 16 year-old wife in Nadra, Ibb governorate last week.
-The 16th session of the Arab Interior Ministers is to be held in Amman next Saturday.
-The French Cultural Center in Sanaa is to screen two films on Monday, 25th January and on February 1st, tackling a number of social issues and the society's role in dealing with them.
Article Summary:
Car Driver Turns Thief
The strange thing is that the driver dropped the man near the eastern gate of the hospital after stealing 20,000 rials and a Janbbiya that is estimated at 80,000 rials from the unconscious man
AL GUMHURYAH
Taiz, daily 23/1/99
Main Headlines
-A number of senior army officers visited Abu Mousa Al Asha'eri military camp last Friday and inaugurated the operational and training programs for 1999.
-The Language Center at Taiz University is to organize a number of intensified courses in English and French languages over the coming few days. It will also revise and certify translations, according to Dr. Sadeq Abdul Wahed, the Dean of the Center.
-Many chewers have complained that qat prices soared during the Eid Al Fitr holiday.
Article Summary:
Education Ministry Projects Boosted
The Minister attributed the decline in the education of girls to the fact that 80% of the students are in the country where schools are far apart and families do not allow their girls to walk a long distance alone.
He did not rule out the economic hardships, saying that a man with five children, males and females, prefers to send his male offspring to school. Other factors include social habits, early marriage, and, most of all, an absence of female teachers.
The January issue of the weekly (temporarily being issued on a monthly basis) advertising paper 'Bazar' is currently on the newsstands with lots of useful advertisments on the local market.
AL WAHDAWI
Sanaa, weekly 16/1/99
(People's Nasserite Unionist Organization)
Article Summary:
An Attack Against Journalism
The unknown group, mistakenly thinking he was Mohammed Al Hadery, beat up the kidnapped man in a deserted area. When they realized their mistake they threw him in a sewer, handcuffed and bleeding.
They told him to tell his brother that the attack was a final message before a more serious attack befalls him in the event he insisted on continuing with his writing.
Al Hadery has received threats on various occasions in the past year from parties who consider his writings as damaging to their interests.
AL WAHDAWI, in which Al Hadery writes, asks the security authorities to shoulder their responsibility in protecting the citizens and enable them to practise their constitutional freedoms away from threats from corruptive elements.
An Amnesty International Delegation Visits Yemen
A Delegation from the London-based Amnesty International is to visit Yemen in the period January 26 to February 6 to meet with its representatives in the country in preparation for opening a branch in Sanaa.
The delegation, members of which are to tour a number of Yemeni governorates, is to discuss the Yemeni representatives' participation in Amnesty International's forthcoming conference in Rabat,, Morocco next August.
The delegates are further expected to table the organization's comprehensive strategic plan for the years 2000-2004 and benefit from the Yemeni representatives' opinions of it.
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