09 - March 1st thru March 7th 1999, Vol IX
By: Sameer Farawna
AL BALAGH
Sanaa, weekly 23/2/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
-A World Bank report indicated that unemployment in Yemen has reached a record 25%.
-The Ministry of Supplies and Commerce has opened the door for those willing to import wheat after the government subsidy was totally lifted.
-The Yemeni embassy in Kuwait is to open soon according to Kuwaiti Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad.
-The environment protection department last month destroyed five tons of expired foodstuffs.
-The Arab Fund has expressed willingness to finance sewage projects in Yemen.
Article Summary:
Saudi-Yemeni Borders Again
He said that we have not reached a dead end so far and the desire of both parties to settle that dispute should be exploited.
No-one in Saudi Arabia wishes to keep the dispute unresolved since such a solution is a precondition for security and stability in the whole region, Ba Jammal emphasized.
He opined that contacts between both parties should be intensified to assert mutual confidence as a prelude to reaching a settlement.
AL SHOURA
Sanaa, weekly 21/2/99
(Federation of Popular Forces)
Main Headlines:
-The Presidential Secretariat ordered the Central Bank governor to pay 150 million rials to a local car dealer in return for purchasing 50 Ford cars that would then be distributed by the Presidency.
-Classes have been closed in 17 schools throughout the capital city after their teachers went on strike to protest seven attacks against the teaching staff.
-Yemen buys the worst quality Sri Lankan tea because of its low prices.
-Privatization project would sell the public sector to investors who would lay off its employees.
-TB and malaria are again spreading in the country's southern governorates.
-Another doctor in the cabinet was stricken by malaria and he intends to travel abroad for treatment.
ATTARIQ
Aden, weekly 23/2/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
-Acute differences lead to the postponement of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate meeting for an indefinite period.
-A number of tribesmen in Shabwa demand 60,000 rials before returning a Hilux car with government plates which they stole on the Sanaa-Hadhramaut road.
-Medical sources in Hodeida said that 90% of the medicines found in the private hospitals in that governorate are government medicines.
-Citizens are fearing the annihilation of their animal wealth following the spread of a strange disease among the sheep in Shabwa.
AL WAHDAWI
Sanaa, weekly 23/2/99
(People's Nasserite Unionist Organization)
Main Headlines:
-A shipment totaling 45,000 tons of wheat had been carried to Sanaa from Hodeida without checking whether it was fit for human consumption, amid fears that it could be leaked to the market.
-A Nasserite Organization official has expressed dismay over the People's General Conference's practices in forcing school students to join that party and forging their IDs in the process.
-Security apparatus in Aden detains British lawyer Rashad Yacoub for questioning on his residence. Yacoub is defending the British suspects who are accused of planning a number of sabotage operations in Aden governorate.
-The authorities resort to tribal Sheikhs to arrest the murderers of Ali Kherbash who was shot in front of his house in Abyan by a number of known persons that later sought protection with Al Marakesha tribe in that governorate.
-The country's economic hardships did not prevent granting governorate undersecretaries 99 Toyota cars.
-Yemenia declared its need for Yemeni air hostesses and chose only three from scores of applications. However, it appointed a large number of Filipino air hostesses.
Article Summary:
New Price Hikes
Official economic sources told AL WAHDAWI that the price hikes range between 50% and 100% and added that the raise was discussed by the parliament.
Wheat prices have also risen as of early January this year by 70% compared to 1997 and sacks of wheat were sold for as much as 2500 rials per each 50 kilogram sack.
Political opposition sources expressed surprise over the non-declaration of those increases and said that the citizens have nothing else to do except express their rejection of such soaring prices via all available peaceful means.
RAI
Sanaa, weekly 23/2/99
(League of the Sons of Yemen)
Main Headlines:
-The government is expected to release Abul Hassan, who headed an armed group and kidnapped a number of tourists in Abyan late last year. The security men's intervention to free the hostages lead to the killing of four foreigners. The Britons, who were detained for planning acts of sabotage in Aden, will be also set free in the deal struck between the government and the jihad group.
-Intensified programs are under way to rally popular support behind the local rule project.
-The Interior Ministry is continuing its campaign against residence violators in the country despite objections by a number of Arab embassies in Sanaa.
-The Islamic Development Bank is lending 25 million dollars for a huge water desalination project in Aden.
-Military police captured a car with military plates, following a chase in the Dhamar city more than ten days ago. The driver of the car and his companions fled, leaving behind a shipment of liquor that will be destroyed publicly within the coming few days.
AL AYAM
Sanaa, tri-weekly 24/2/99
(Independent)
Main Headlines:
-Chief editor of weekly Al Shoura was missed by his family a few days ago when he went out to work but did not come home, his whereabouts are not known.
-The Council of Ministers has agreed on a 20% pay raise in the salaries of government employees effective as of this coming April, excluding those of the Health and Education Ministries who had separate increases recently.
-A new prison will be built in Mukala, Hadhramaut governorate at a cost of 200 million rials to replace the old one that dates back to 1945.
-Families of seven youths have complained that their sons were in custody with the state security police in Al Bida' governorate for the past three months on charges of belonging to the Yemeni opposition abroad. They appealed to the political leadership to try them in court if there were any charges against them or else to set them free.
AL SAHWA
Sanaa, weekly 25/2/99
(Yemeni Congregation for Reform-Islah)
Main Headlines:
-A number of members of parliament have asked the Information Minister, Abdul Rahman Al Akwa' to allow all political forces a chance to address the nation through the various media means.
-Parliamentary speaker Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al Ahmar met with a delegation from the Hamas movement in Sanaa last Tuesday.
-A number of observers have expressed surprise over the closure of the sponge factory in Aden recently, saying that it was an apparent success.
-A checking point in Abyan governorate foiled an attempt to smuggle liquor and unspecified pills last 10 February.
-Islah presents an accurate method to amend electoral lists and formation of electoral committees.
-Soldiers in Zanzibar and Jua'ar, Abyan governorate were apparently so happy at receiving transfer orders that they opened gun fire for more than an hour at dawn last Monday. The incident, however, spread terror among the sleeping citizens.
AL THAWRI
Sanaa, weekly 25/2/99
(Yemeni Socialist Party)
Main Headlines:
-28 members of the ruling People's General Conference party have collectively resigned from that party.
-The government begins execution of the new economic "reform" stage without any propaganda.
-Premier Dr. Abdul Karim Al Iryani has underlined that education in Yemen has many shortcomings.
-Salem Balfaqih, director of the paints factory in Aden governorate was kidnapped on his way from the factory to the Goldmoore area last Wednesday.
-The Socialist Party has expressed deep dismay at the arrest of AL SHOURA weekly's chief editor Noman Qaed Saif.
AL UMMA
Sanaa, weekly 25/2/99
(Al Haq Party)
Main Headlines:
-For the second time, the Ans tribes in Dhamar governorate executes a murderer without waiting for the states interference.
-U.S. demining specialists are currently in Aden to prepare for the expected visit of Gen. Anthony Zinni, the Commander of Centcom to Yemen.
-Weekly Al Shoura's chief editor Noman Qaed Said was released from custody last Wednesday. He was arrested the day before for publishing a report on the Presidential Palace's purchase of cars to the tune of 150 million rials.
-Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Abdul Qader Ba Jammal delayed his departure on a recent visit to the United Arab Emirates until the television cameras arrived to take his photo, at his request, in his capacity as the acting Premier.
Article Summary:
Yemen Jews Sell their Homes and Move to Occupied Palestine
Sources in the village said that three houses have already been sold and that others are for sale and added that their families intend to immigrate to occupied Palestine.
They recalled that press reports a few months ago had said that there was a deal struck with a Yemeni official to organize the immigration of the remaining Yemeni Jews to "Israel" in return for 50 million dollars.
The village has between 15 to 20 Jewish families and a similar number live in another nearby village called Wadi Amlah.
AL JAMAHEER
Sanaa, weekly 25/2/99
(Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party)
Main Headlines:
-Security forces accompanying a group of tourists in Amran governorate foiled an attempt by three gunmen to kidnap the tourists early last week.
-Light and medium arms were used in a tribal fighting between Bani Qays and Bani Amran along the Sanaa-Saada road early last week. The heavy fighting, which resulted in the death of two tribesmen and the injury of several others, was due to unpaid debts.
-Well informed sources expected a 20% increase to Yemeni civil servants' salaries as of first of April and a 20% increase on income taxes as of the first of February.
-Deputy Interior Minister Brig. Mutahar Rashad Al Masri has attributed the revival of the revenge phenomenon to the prolonged judicial procedures.
-An army captain was shot to death in Lahj last Monday while trying to solve a dispute between two families.
-Member of Ba'ath leadership in Yemen Yehya Shuja'uldin has rejected any practices that could weaken the country's parliament.
-Head of the General Tourism Authority and member of the Ba'ath leadership Abdul Rahman Mahyoub has said that Yemen will lose 250 million dollars in the upcoming six months as a result of the recent wave of kidnappings.
26 SEPTEMBER
Sanaa, weekly 25/2/99
(Yemen Armed Forces)
Main Headlines:
-Jordanian Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al Hourani is scheduled in Sanaa first of March at the head of a high level delegation for economic cooperation talks with Yemeni officials.
-The final date for the convening of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate's general conference is mid March, according to Mohammed Shenaif, the Syndicate's secretariat member.
-The deputy Interior Minister has said that British lawyer Rashed Yacoub, who is defending a group of British nationals suspected of planning explosions in Aden governorate, will be deported within the few coming days for tabling a false statement to the attorney general. He claimed that, one of the defendants, Mohammed Mustafa Kamel was tortured, a matter which turned out to be untrue, the deputy Minister stated.
-The second television channel in Aden has received modern equipment to improve its broadcasting. The equipment, with worth estimated at about one million dollars, are a gift from the Japanese government.
Article Summary:
Ba Jammal in Iran Soon
Ba Jammal is expected to confer with the Iranian chief diplomat and other senior officials on means of boosting bilateral relations in various spheres.
They are also expected to hold consultations on regional, Islamic and international developments of mutual concern.
Meantime, Ba Jammal welcomed Kuwaiti Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad's invitation to him to visit Kuwait.
He said that he will respond to that invitation as soon as it officially reaches him and welcomed Sheikh Sabah's recent statements on Yemen, describing them as a good omen toward restoration of the two countries' friendly relations.
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