05 - February 1st thru February 7th 1999, Vol IX
By: Sameer Farawna
AL BALAGH
Sanaa, weekly 26/1/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
- A Yemeni official has disclosed that the kidnappers of the six Dutch and British hostages will release them soon. He asserted that all six were in good health and revealed that their abductor was wanted by the authorities for armed robbery and murder.
- An official with the UNHCR in Aden has said that Al Jaheen camp currently accommodates around 11,000 Somali refugees.
- The higher coordination council of the opposition parties has issued a statement condemning the ruling authority's practices which attempt to disintegrate those parties and end the country's partisan pluralism.
- An ambitious project is currently under way, with Japanese help, to expand telephone services in the governorate of Aden through installing 50,000 new lines, that could be later expanded, by the year 2000.
Article Summary:
Acid Fog Threatens Aden
He attributed the phenomenon to the people's malpractice of burning garbage in the governorate over the past decades.
He proposed burning it in a far away area to prevent the growing of that fog, which, if left untreated, could lead to serious respiratory problems, especially for children and the elderly due to their weak resistance.
RAI
Sanaa, weekly 26/1/99
(League of the Sons of Yemen)
Main Headlines:
- Victims of mysterious crimes have increased recently in the governorates of Taiz, Aden and Abyan.
- An armed group fired shots at the clinic of a doctor in Dhamar city ten days ago before speeding away in their jeep. The doctor, who was not in his clinic, was at odds with an officer over a land plot owned by the doctor but which the officer wishes to seize from him, according to sources in the city.
- Europe is gradually lifting an embargo on importing fish from Yemen. The European countries had complained that health conditions and technical standards were low in Yemeni fish exports.
- Only 50% of civil servants turned up for work on the first working day following the Eid holidays, according to an independent survey.
Article Summary:
Tourism in Danger
They added that the cancellations led to heavy losses on the part of tourism agencies, hotels and Yemenia airlines.
For its part, the League of the Sons of Yemen party has called for a national conference to discuss the kidnapping phenomenon.
The League called on political parties and concerned authorities to attend that conference, noting that the date will be determined later on.
In a statement on the issue, the party said that violence, kidnapping and other security violations were harming the country's reputation abroad in addition to directing a blow to our national economy represented in blocking foreign investments and greatly harming tourism revenues.
ATTARIQ
Aden, weekly 26/1/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
- Yemen's Attorney General has appointed a new attorney and judge for the trial of the Kidnappers of the foreign tourists in Abyan after withdrawal of the original ones fearing vengeance by comrades of the defendants.
-The Director of the 'Gomhuriya' hospital in Aden has refuted a report published by the weekly that his administration had asked for 10,000 rials in return for keeping the body of a deceased person in the hospital refrigerator. The paper, meanwhile, asserted the claim, saying that it possesses documents to back it up.
-Security forces are besieging four of the group that kidnapped 16 tourists in Abyan late last December in that same governorate. The kidnappers have refused to give themselves up and the security forces are allowing more time for tribal mediations before launching any other step.
-Situation of the Yemeni journalists and journalism will be among the important agenda items at the forthcoming meeting of the Arab Journalists Union which will convene on February 9 in Cairo.
Article Summary:
Piracy at Sea
One of the armed men mounted the Chinese boat and demanded $5,000 from the captain. When the later refused, the gunman fired indiscriminately in all directions, injuring a Yemeni sailor and damaging a number of the boat's navigation and telecommunication equipment in addition to the boat itself.
The armed pirate fled the boat when the captain managed to snatch the machine gun from him. He later handed it over to the concerned authorities.
AL THAWRI
Sanaa, weekly 28/1/99
(Yemeni Socialist Party)
Main Headlines:
- The American intelligence played a basic role in arresting the British group by the Yemeni authorities in Aden recently in return for a political bargain between Washington and Sanaa, according to reliable sources.
- The YSP central committee convenes its first session following the Party's fourth general conference on February 10.
- YSP politburo member Ahmad Ghaleb described the Party's newcomers as the "golden members' and told them that they will never regret joining the Party.
- Political prisoners are still held in Yemeni prisons despite assertions to the contrary.
AL SAHWA
Sanaa, weekly 28/1/99
(Yemeni Congregation for Reform-Islah)
Main Headlines:
- An Islah official has condemned the recent kidnappings in Yemen and asked the government to initiate security, economic and social reforms in the country.
- Head of Islah political department Mohammed Qahtan told AL SAHWA that his party calls for gradual and non-violent reforms and has nothing to do with radical actions.
- Hadhramaut religious scholars have denounced the Russian circus' exhibitions there.
- Indiscriminate water drainage in Radaa by qat cultivators will dry the project's basin in the area according to a number of citizens, who complained about the situation.
-New financial violations were recently uncovered in the Yemeni Oil Company's Aden branch leading to the suspension of two senior employees.
-The killing of a leading Islah party member in Qaida, Ibb governorate have led to large-scale public condemnation.
AL JAMAHEER
Sanaa, weekly 28/1/99
(Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party)
Main Headlines:
- The Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party's leadership has condemned the recent wave of kidnappings and terrorism which was witnessed in Yemen, saying that it greatly harms the country's security and stability.
- The governor of Amran and a leading tribal Sheikh have succeeded in ending an armed dispute between two tribes in the city of Khamr recently.
- Many messages to the paper have lauded its initiative which called for boycotting British and American products following the attacks on Iraq.
AL UMMA
Sanaa, weekly 28/1/99
(Al Haq Party)
Main Headlines:
- Al Haq Party has condemned the explosions that took place in Saada, the latest of which was in late Ramadhan and asked the authorities to unveil the perpetrators of such acts of sabotage.
- A number of Yemeni citizens have asked the U.N. to settle their case with the Yemeni government which could not return their lands usurped from them nine years ago despite repeated appeals.
- An armed group has abducted three German tourists in Amran at a time when efforts to secure the release of six others, reportedly detained by the same group, were a failure.
- Tensions are mounting in the Gabal Thaar mountain area between Saudi Arabia and Yemen after inhabitants there received demands for their evacuation at the pretext that the area was under Saudi sovereignty.
-A jewish family carrying western passports has visited Al Shahel city twice last year and inspected areas formerly inhabited by jews there.
AL WEHDA
Sanaa, weekly 27/1/99
(Official)
Main Headlines:
-The Director of the Hodeida-based Yemeni Agricultural Exports, Ahmad Sheikh Aziz has affirmed that the total Yemeni agricultural exports has recently reached 25 tons daily.
-The Higher Tourism Council, headed by Premier Dr. Abdul Karim Al Iryani, has passed a number of resolutions to confront kidnappings and sabotage acts.
-The Governor of Mahra has asserted that the addition of a number of towns to his governorate will help in expanding developmental projects.
-The public funds attorney in Aden is currently investigating a number of corruption cases in that governorate.
26 SEPTEMBER
Sanaa, weekly 28/1/99
(Yemen Armed Forces)
Main Headlines:
- The President of the Republic, in an interview with the London-based Al Quds newpaper, calls for the formation of an economic grouping in the Arabian peninsula within the Arab League and reveals that American pressures were made to avoid the convening of the Arab summit at least for the time being.
- Federal Germany's Foreign Minister is to visit Yemen on February 9 within the framework of an Arab tour that will also take him to Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.
- The Oil Ministry has decreased prices of fuel for domestic and foreign airlines as of January 1st in a step aimed at boosting Yemenia's annual revenues.
- Six "terrorist" elements were rounded up in the Shabwa governorate last week including the son of Abu Hamza Al Masri. The later, who lives in London, had sent them to launch sabotage operations in Aden.
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