The Presidential Race Is On:

Last Wednesday, the Parliament tightly short-listed the nominees for the position of the President of the Republic of Yemen. Among 30 nominees applying, only 2 were able to pass the 10% required endorsement from the members of the Parliament. It is interesting to note that the only competitor against the president will be Najeeb Qahtan Al-Shaabi, the son of the first president of the former South Yemen, Qahtan Al-Shaabi. Najeeb is a well known ally of the President and a member of the Permanent Committee of the the ruling Party, the People's General Congress. 
 

Following the death of King Hassan II of Morocco, President Saleh, flew to Rubat yesterday to attend the late King's funeral ceremony. The Royal Family will be receiving tens of delegations represented by presidents and heads of states from all over the world. President Saleh was the last Head of State to meet King Hassan before his death. King Hassan, 70, died on Friday following a heart attack bringing an end to his 38-year-old rule. His eldest son, Crown Prince Mohammed was enthroned in a swift succession allegiance ceremony just few hours later after the announcement of King Hassan's death. The new King Mohammed VI is likely to face many challenges, politically and economically.. As Yemen Times pays its sincere condolences to the bereaved royal family, it wishes the best of success for the new King Mohammed. 

Yesterday morning, the Traffic Court of Sanaa continued its hearings in the third court session regarding the car accident that led to the tragic death of Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, the founder of Yemen Times. During the session, the lawyer of the defendant, Dr. Abdulnasser Al-Zindani asked the court to release the defendant Samir Al-Sirri on bail against appropriate surety. He also urged that the Prosecution to be clear in his accusation. The Prosecution deferred his response to the next session. The Judge consequently, ruled that he cannot decide on re-investigation (see last issue), until the Prosecution files his response. Hence, he postponed the court's decision until the next session to be held two weeks later on August 16th. 

The United Nations Annual Human Development Report 1999 released this month shows that Yemen is among the bottom ranking countries in terms of the human development indicators achieved. Yemen holds the 148th position among 174 countries, with respect to the various indicators of human developments used, which include: life expectancy, literacy, combined gross enrollment rates, GDP, education, human development index, etc. The UN Report indicates that the rate of poverty in Yemen has increased to 27% in 1998, (4.3 million people), while in 1992 it was just 19.1% (3.2 million people). Although this ranking is better than the 1998 ranking of 151, the situation has to be viewed in the context of the actual indicators given and the relative comparison to the other countries, as well as the actual situation on the ground. 
With Yemen's fast growing population the unemployment rate is approaching the 40% mark. Consequently the country is getting poorer and malnutrition is widespread. President Saleh states that the main reason behind the increasing level of poverty is the rapidly growing population of the country.. The population is doubling every 19 years, with a growth rate of 3.7 percent a year between 1988-1994. The population is expected to reach 18.9 million in 2001. Official estimates put the population now at about 17.5 million. It is obvious that the next President will still continue to face the critical problem of getting the country on the right track of development.. 

The Yemeni petroleum engineers brought a note before the president of the Parliament , Shaikh Abdullah Ben Hussain Al-Ahmar , concerning the presidential orders to employ them in the petroleum companies in Yemen which have not been carried out until now . In their note , the Yemeni engineers asked for the following: 
1: Carrying out the President's orders to employ them according to their specialization. 
2: Carrying out the parliament orders which the Minister committed himself to. Before this the Yemeni petroleum engineers carried a sit-in at the gate of the Ministry of Petrol where they were shot at. The Yemen Times harried to the scene of the problem and had a number of interviews with one of the engineers. 

Q: Will you please give us a general idea about the problem ? 
A: Well, the problem is known to everybody and the government knows it, too. We have two orders from the President concerning employing. In the beginning the number was 251 and now it has been increased . We have been trying for tow years to employ the required number; 360 from which 226 have already been employed. These 226 employees have finished their period of commissioning as teachers. One month ago we brought a note before the Minister informing him of the elapsing of the commissioning period in order to send us to our jobs. When we got no response we sent another note to the Minister on Saturday, July 17. We went to the Minister's office but he neither met with us nor he responded to our note. Being disappointed, the engineers decided to carry out a sit-in at the gate. When they could not separate us, a car came and tried to do the same. A heated argument then took place between the engineers and the driver which was soon followed by firing. We were very frightened and we were separated. When the firing stopped some policemen arrived at the scene. They asked as to choose representatives to talk with the Minister. When our representatives went up to the Minister's office they were told that he had gone. We wondered how he managed to leave without seeing him!. In addition to this problem we do not receive a fair payment. 

Q: What are your demands? 
A: We ask for our rights to be put in jobs that suit our specialization. Thus, we want to be sent to petroleum organizations. We are holding the slogan never ignore the Yemeni qualified specialists. 

Q: Do you think this can be done? 
A : We have to be hopeful. We are in a democratic country. We send notes to people in charge requesting them to look at our problem with consideration .The Minister, at 8th/6/1998, committed himself to employing 30 to 40 engineers in every petroleum company. We would like this to be accomplished.