National Yemen - Issue 04

YOUR NEW NEWSPAPER

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Yemeni Women Fall For Qat

07

Parliamentary bane: Lack of Quorum

09

Health Care System Zero Results

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The Facts As They Are

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(The Guardian [Online]) American officials are searching for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks in an attempt to pressure him not to publish thousands of confidential and potentially hugely embarrassing diplomatic cables that offer unfiltered assessments of Middle East governments and leaders, the Guardian, a British daily newspaper, reported on Friday.

The Daily Beast, a US news reporting and opinion website, reported that Pentagon investigators are trying to track down Julian Assange – an Australian citizen who moves frequently between countries – after the arrest of a US soldier last week who is alleged to have given the whistleblower website a classified video of American troops killing civilians in Baghdad.

The soldier, Bradley Manning, claimed to have given WikiLeaks 260,000 pages of confidential diplomatic cables and intelligence assessments.

The US authorities fear their release could “do serious damage to national security”, said the Daily Beast, which is published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and New Yorker magazines.

Manning, 22, was arrested in Iraq last month after he was turned over to US authorities by a former hacker, Adrian Lamo, to whom he boasted of leaking the video and documents.

As an intelligence specialist in the US army, Manning had access to assessments from the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as frank diplomatic insights into Middle East governments.

In one of his messages to Lamo, obtained by Wired magazine, Manning said: “Hillary Clinton and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available.”

Although it is likely that WikiLeaks has broken US laws in de-encrypting the video from Baghdad and publishing secret documents, the tone of an American official who spoke to the Daily Beast sounded more desperate than threatening. “We’d like to know where he is; we’d like his cooperation in this,” the official said.

It is, in any case, not clear what legal measures US officials could use to stop publication of the cables. Assange has created an elaborate web of protection – with servers in several countries, notably Sweden, which has strong laws protecting whisteblowers.

WikiLeaks’ response to the news that the Americans are trying to track down Assange came on Twitter. “Any signs of unacceptable behaviour by the Pentagon or its agents towards this press will be viewed dimly,” it

Preparations ongoing for establishing wind power plant in Yemen SANA’A, June 12 – Prime Minister Ali Mujawar met on Saturday with Chairman of the Korean Shinhan Company Chun Hwan Kim, who briefed him on the ongoing preparations for establishing the first power plant to produce energy by wind in Yemen.

The company’s chairman explained that the station, scheduled to be implemented by the company within two months in the city of Makha in the governorate of Taiz, would generate 60 megawatts of electricity.

He confirmed that the completion of this project, which is the first of its kind in Yemen, would be within ten months from the start date of its construction phase. He went on to express his appreciation for the government’s support and concern for the project’s success.

Mujawar affirmed the importance and salience of the project, which comes as one of the main

priorities of the energy sector in its strategic plan and executive framework. He went on to highlight the developmental and investment dimensions of the project, as it will be clear proof of the possibility of alternative energy sources in Yemen.

The generation of electricity through this project would open the doors widely for many other alternative energy projects of this type of projects in Yemen, , Mujawar said.

He urged the company to expedite the start of the implementation process according to the timetable to allow for the completion of the project by the agreed and desired deadline.

Once again, Mujawar praised the government for its support for such a vital investment that would promote the electrical power situation of Yemen without harming the environment.

said.

After Manning was arrested, WikiLeaks said in a Twitter message that allegations “we have been sent 260,000 classified US embassy cables are, as far as we can tell, incorrect”.

Before his arrest, Manning told Lamo he was in part motivated to leak the video and documents by being ordered to look the other way in the face of injustice.

Messages from Manning, obtained by Wired, say he found that 15 Iraqis arrested by Iraqi police for printing “anti-Iraq” literature had merely put together an assessment of government corruption.

“I immediately took that information and ran to the [US army] officer to explain what was going on. He didn’t want to hear any of it. He told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the [Iraqi police] in finding MORE detainees,” Manning wrote.

“Everything started slipping after that. I saw things differently. I had always questioned the [way] things worked, and investigated to find the truth.

“But that was a point where I was … actively involved in something I was completely against.”

The Pentagon has declined to comment on the grounds that what is in the documents is classified.

Photo Wardah Al-shawesh

Pentagon hunts WikiLeaks founder in bid to gag website

Child labor in Yemen: an exacerbated situation and a bitter reality

Somali pirates attack Yemeni tanker, wounding soldier Somali pirates have opened fire on a Yemeni oil tanker in the Red Sea wounding a guard on board, Yemen’s interior ministry quoted the coastguard as saying on Saturday, reported AFP. “The coastguard in the Red Sea said that Somali pirates intercepted an oil tanker near the Bab alMandab area and opened fire on it, wounding one of the soldiers” onboard, the ministry reported on

its website.

It did not say when precisely the attack took place.

The Bab al-Mandab strait is a strategic and busy waterway linking the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, and is incessantly navigated through by shipping that passes through the Suez Canal.

A team of guards aboard the tanker “confronted” the pirates and “forced them to flee,” the

ministry website said. Following the incident the Yemeni oil tanker changed course to the western port of Al-Hudaydah, it added.

Heavily armed pirates using speedboats operate in the Gulf of Aden where they prey on ships, sometimes holding vessels for weeks before releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or ship-owners.

On May 29th, the defence min-

istry had announced that the Yemeni navy had arrested 13 Somali pirates and liberated a fishing boat and its crew four days after they were seized near the island of Socotra.

On May 18th, a Yemeni court sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for 10 years each, for seizing a Yemeni tanker and killing two crew in April 2009.

SU Hosts Islamic Architecture Conference Training on Heritage Preservation Launched SANA’A - The three-day conference on Islamic Art & Architecture which was launched on Saturday June 12 and is being held at Sana’a University, aims to deepen and further creativity in the fields of architecture and the arts of Islamic civilization.

Director General of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) Fathi alMulla, said in the official inaugu-

ration ceremony that the conference aspires to “find a way to the educational curriculum in order to illustrate this aspect of civilization and heritage for students to enrich their thought and knowledge.”

Al-Mulla added that the conference seeks also to project the Islamic entity for the nation’s youth in order to instill pride in their lasting civilization, according of-

ficial news agency Saba.

Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, Dr. Saleh Basurah, attended the official launch of the conference and expressed his appreciation for the efforts of organizing the event. Highlighting the significance of the conference, Basurah said the conference will contribute to the enrichment of the available literature of Islamic architecture and its various

arts through research that will ultimately contribute to the preservation and improvement of the Islamic architectural art.

Sana’a University, along with the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW), organized this 2nd international conference which was attended by researchers and academic figures from all over the Islamic world.

National Yemen Irresponsible project management adds to government burdens Parliament Report: ‘Fifth Fisheries’ Project Disaster

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Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

Five years after its launch, only 20% of the Fifth Fishery Project (FFP) has been implemented, and there are many major financial and management discrepancies visible within the project.

A parliamentary report (a copy of which was obtained by National Yemen) revealed several faults and violations apparent throughout the execution of the FFP, a project that was financed through a $25 million loan from the World Bank.

The same shortcomings apply to Fishery Sector Development & Sustainability Project that was funded with $7.5 million from the EU. The six-year FFP (30 Jan. 2006 – 30 June 2011) was intended to fulfill a number of objectives that would boost, among other things, fishery resources and the restructuring of the fishery sector.

The aforementioned report indicated that only 17% of the overall activities and projects have been implemented in coastal governorates. It went on to say that through the field visit conducted by the parliamentary Agriculture Irrigation and Fisheries Committee it was clearly seen that the three planned ports were not implemented and only 50% of the work in the three major fish markets was done, and that of the 27 planned markets and their associated administrative offices, only 14 have been implemented.

The report showed that the 20 planned ice factories and 15 breakwaters firths were not executed in the specified governorates as dictated by the project proposal. Neither were the planned roads built, fuel depot constructed, nor were the concerned villages protected from sea water action that would threaten their homes, seawater

desalinated or the proposed high quality laboratories furnished. By this count, the number of unexecuted projects amounts to 64 out the originally planned 81. Thus, only 17 projects are under construction and even these are but 50% complete.

The same report said that support for fishery corporations as indicated in the project documents was not extended to such institutions, neither did any of those corporations’ views were taken into consideration where activities covered by the project were concerned.

According to the report, FFP management is performed through a closed administrative process that is implemented, followed up and supervised by a single person: the FFP general director.

“It became clear to the committee,” said the report, “that the management is, without doubt, in fault, in terms of following up and supervising work of the contractors entrusted with delivering the projects pursuant to contracts concluded by both parties.”

REPORT

The delivery of two fish markets, one in Ras Al-Ara’a, Lahj and the other in the Aden dockyards, in addition to other fish markets, were substantially delayed, and now they exhibit signs of shoddy construction; cracks and deterioration are immediately visible, especially at the Sheikh Abdullah site, which reflects clear negligence and a waste of public money. The same might be said about the Maqatin site, in Abyan governorate.

Although five years of the project have passed and only one year is left, only 20% of planned work has been implemented. One year is considered by the parliamentary committee as insufficient to meet the completion and delivery deadlines of the rest of the activities and projects, as outlined in the FFP plans. This ultimately means, the report concluded, that the project administration failed to fulfill its contractual obligations and that stakeholders in the project had not benefited from the FFP since they were not consulted about their needs.

The report said also that FFP committee’s failed to heed and adhere to Parliament’s recommendations, which were made during the process of approving the project’s loan, and included: developing and improving traditional fishing boats and distributing them among local fishermen; establishing fishing net factories, and; establishing plants for grinding and drying fish remains to be used as feed. Parliament also recommended that the funds which would become available during the FFP semi-annual assessment be added to the project’s sec-

ond component, under Clause 3, that provides for improving and equipping fish unloading sites.

The report disclosed a disparity between the delivered projects’ overall costs and those indicated in contract agreements. After reviewing the documents submitted to it by the project’s management, the committee found out that the price of one of the project defined in that project document was $1.5 million, while the amount mentioned in the contract was over $2.5 million and the actual amount paid was a little over $2.4 million. “If we calculate,” explained the report, “the value of remaining amounts of the two projects that are not delivered yet as the management says, we will find out that the amount due is far larger than the contractual price, which is demonstrative of financial and administrative inconsistencies.”

Commenting on the project management’s denial of any change in some project sites in its reply to the Parliament, the committee affirmed that Sheikh Abdullah site in Abyan was not included in the project document and that Hadramout was not mentioned in the document either.

The project management claimed that 14 projects had, at that point in time, been delivered, but when visiting the sites of those projects, the committee discovered that they were not completed.

Other dubious inconsistencies surfaced. Of the number of computers given by FFP management to the Ministry of Fisheries and its regional branches only 120 out of the 133 computers bought ac-

cording to documents submitted by the management to the parliamentary committee could be accounted for.

The Agriculture, Irrigation and Fisheries Committee requested the government at the end of its report to call to account all those who squandered public money and resources.

Parliament had ratified the loan agreement to finance FFP on 30 April 2006 and the project was initiated on 26 June 2006, while the project EU grant agreement had been signed on 30 January 2006. The deadline for the use and withdrawal from the WB loan is 30 June 2011 and from the EU grant the end of June 2012.

FFP (managing and preserving fisheries) consists of four components: (i) enhancing management of fishery resources and developing the fisheries sector; (ii) improving industrial quality and establishing infrastructure; (iii) supporting fishery cooperatives and federations; and, (iv) preparing for project implementation and supervision and preparing the phase 2.

The EU grant also defined other project goals, including: improving the quality assurance system for produced fisheries and establishing a fishery data network, connecting it to main unloading sites.

National Yemen

LOCAL

Human nature is a challenge with which we deal on a daily basis. We don’t have a choice in the matter. It is nature that pushes you to search for your best mate, and it is our nature to be surrounded by others. Human nature is very much a social thing, and our necessary, daily interactions with people exposes us to a reality in which we incessantly have to compromise.

Once you begin a project, from time to time, you are forced to remember how hard it is to satisfy others who have a different, “better” approach to what you originally had in mind. Starting National Yemen has allowed us to realize that we must consider each person’s distinct style in order to succeed. While we are doing so, we still face the fact not everyone is satisfied; Some look for politics, and others look for photos to illustrate the text and give colour and clarity to the news picture, while the rest simply need more and different news. There are even people, unfortunately, who do not want the newspaper to continue. It’s true. You cannot include governmental attitudes or approaches in your paper without having readers interpret your intentions as just that. On the other hand, if you write against the government, it means you don’t want the country to develop. Advertisers also like to have their own articles published as part of their inter-company mutual ‘relationship’ with you, whether they be newsworthy pieces or mere commercial statements. Real readers of the paper, however, are looking for a professional newspaper that satisfies their needs and at the same time meets international standards.

Here we stumble on the challenge of finding the middle ground between the needs of the reader and the newspaper’s mot-

to, “the facts, as they are,” while creating (or maintaining) a new approach to English language journalism in Yemen, about Yemen. We are doing this for the sake of the truth and for the sake of the news, to fulfil and satisfy our critical audience. So, that leaves us with the question of what to discuss. One day I was at a qat session with my peers, and in each corner there was someone looking for a different page to be published. To the right of the room were those wanting to see a revival of solid photojournalism come through the paper. Across the other side of the room they were suggesting to stop writing about politics to appease those who were simply and thoroughly disenchanted with the whole notion of politics in Yemen. Next to me was someone pushing for a bigger ‘broadsheet’ paper, with big pictures, big articles, and big ideas. “Make it a fun newspaper ― we can easily read about all the gloomy events from other sources. Nobody covers cultural and literary issues well, and there are hardly any light-hearded stories in the papers,” he said. “No, it should be serious,” chimed in another. “No, do it for the government.” “For the opposition!”

They persisted expressing their needs and ideas in a never ending harmony. In the end I found myself with the question: “Whom to satisfy?” We believe that our readers should be the judges. We are going and growing in all directions, in a professional and an eye-catching manner, and we will see whether or not they will be satisfied.

Working in the field of journalism in a place like Yemen requires massive efforts, especially if you are standing on your own.

Of course, everyone is quick to encourage you in your effort, but few actually support it. Support itself is only manifest and demonstrable in firm commitment, that is, in actions, and not by simple words of encouragement.

So, what we need from our readers, advertisers, and friends is to stand firm by National Yemen whilst we grow and develop to become the best weekly English newspaper in Yemen. Here we have laid down our promise ― that we will meet your journalistic needs and high expectations.

With your loyal support and advice we will be able to fashion a efficacious institution of journalism in Yemen, and with your support we will be able to honour our promise.

Yemeni security obstruct visit of Australian detainee’s children Days after official sources confirmed their intention to deport Shyloh Jayne, a female Australian national, Yemeni Political Security tightened its measures at the flat at which the woman’s two children, Omer and Amina, were being kept under the direct supervision from PS deputy chief, Rajih Hunaish.

Abdul Rahman Baraman, HOOD’s lawyer said he was not able to visit the children when he and the Australian counsel went to the apartment in the north of Sana’a. “A number of soldiers formed a human barrier obstructing the way to the place,” said Baraman adding that the soldier refused even to accept the food and books of first and second grades the children’s mother had asked HOOD to hand to her kids.

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Fakhri Hassan Al-Arashi Publisher & Chief Editor

Six Arab and non-Arab countries have confirmed their participation in the Al-Balda Tourism Festival which is to be launched in the Hadramout from 15th to 30th July, said Mr. Badr Mohammed ba Salmah, the chairman of Bait al-Khibra for Consulting and Studies, the festival organizer. He mentioned in particular the countries of Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Indonesia, China and France.

Ba Salamah said that as a means to prepare well for the event, contracts and agreements had been concluded with the relevant authorities and persons in charge of functions, including the Hadramout Gala Concert that would mark the opening of the festival, for

which rehearsals are underway.

He added that as a means to make the most of the festival it was planned to organize special tourism programs that would include visiting al-Mukalla and its countryside for nominal fees / non-profit prices in order for the participants to sightsee some of the most famous of Hadrami landmarks and thus market the governorate for future tourism opportunities as well as to inform the greater public of the glorious cultural history of the Hadramout.

The tourist programs will be uploaded to the festival’s website, starting 10 June.

According to Ba Salmah, the festival technical unit has begun

their orientation visits to the sites that will witness the festival functions in order to make the necessary arrangements of the Ministry

Ameen Al-Ward International College Being forever committed to excellence, the International College (IC), University of Science and Technology Yemen (UST-Y) held its annual exhibition of the creative outputs produced by the Interior and Graphic Design students on 3rd June, 2010. The exhibition lasted for three days at the University campus. From the outset, Dr. Abdulatif Muslah, Deputy President of the University stressed the importance of highlighting the students’ skills and projects through various exhibitions and projects of those students who, through their own hard work, have achieved a high level of excellence for themselves and this institution. In the meantime Dr. Abdulhalim Bin Abdumajeed, Deputy Dean for

Academic Affairs at the College, stated that right up until the third day the exhibition lasted we had been offering some of the pieces that have been produced by our students. “It is a primary purpose of this College to produce such excellence, so we can all be proud of their achievements and show this to their parents in addition to other parties from outside.” The International College offers a variety of English programs in collaboration with USTY and internationally recognized Malaysian Universities, including YemeniMalaysian staff and more than 800 students, 250 of them postgraduate students, Abdulmajeed added.

During the official opening of the exhibition by Dr. Tariq Sinan

Abu Luhom, Chairman of Board of USTY Directors, graduate students from all departments of the college showed their final projects of graduation in which they reflected their own hard works and success they had achieved during a long journey of study. In

the end, the University’s brightest, as well as other meritorious students, were awarded with certificates and souvenirs in the presence of official dignitaries, specialists, parents, students, and different mass media corporations.

MIDDLE EAST AND UK TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS CREATE NEW MUSIC AT UK’S SOUTHBANK MELTDOWN FESTIVAL SUPPORTED BY THE BRITISH COUNCIL Country, date: Seven Middle East musicians who specialise in traditional music from the arab world will take to the stage with their UK peers at the Meltdown Festival held at the Southbank Centre, London (8-12 June) in a collaborative music project developed by the British Council.

The project, Shifting Sands provides opportunities for musicians from the Middle East to collaborate with leading folk musicians from the UK to create new pieces which bring together their different musical cultures.

Shifting Sands is an ever-evolving collaboration, featuring a continually developing set of musical pieces and a flexible line-up of talented musicians specialising in traditional music from their country or culture. It began in Kuwait in February 2010 and further live sessions will take place in Bahrain and Glasgow over the

Mohammed Al-Asaadi Editorial Consultant

Mansoor Al-Rdaei News Editor

next 9 months, with others being planned up to 2012 as part of the British Council’s New Work New Audiences regional arts programme.

This year the Meltdown festival, held at one of London’s leading arts complexes is being curated by legendary guitarist Richard Thompson. It features a mix of music, art, performance and film.

Musicians from the Middle East taking part in Shifting Sands at the Meltdown festival are Ahmed Al-Ghanem (flute player), Mohammed Hamada (percussionist) and Thani Salem Thani (percussionist) from Bahrain; Abdullah Bahashwan (qanoon) from Saudi Arabia; Ranya Shaban (vocals) and Kamal Musallam (oud and guitar) from UAE; and Mohammed Beor (simsimiyya ) from Yemen. Andy Mellon, Shifting Sands’ Musical Director is trumpet player for the acclaimed UK

Fuad Al-Qadhi Business Editor

‘folk big band’ Bellowhead, who have been four times awarded ‘Best Live Band’ at the BBC Folk Awards and are currently Southbank Centre ‘Artists in Residence’.

At each session the Middle East and UK musicians will create new material inspired by their respective musical traditions, and on themes of their choosing. One theme already emerging is the sea; sea shanties and hornpipes from the British Isles v. pearl diving and fishing songs from the Arabian sea. Each Shifting Sands session will be co-hosted by partners in either the UK or the Middle East.

Andy Mellon, who was also Music Director for the collaboration project when it was held in Kuwait in February said: “When I was asked to be Musical Director of Shifting Sands I

Dr. Ahmed Al-Qoyadhi Education Editor

Khaled Al-Sofi SeniorTranslator

Mohammed Howais Photojournalist

Najeeb Abdulwahed Technical Director

was excited and slightly apprehensive. For many years I studied and performed music from the Middle East, and as part of Bellowhead, I’m heavily involved in the English folk music scene.

My concern was how these two worlds would collide and how the musicians would engage, not only with each other, but also with our audiences. I needn’t have worried. At the core of this group is a team of incredibly talented, creative musicians playing their own traditional music, who are not afraid to take risks and learn from each other to create something unique. For me, most exciting and satisfying about this combination of performers and traditions is not only exploring the differences in our musics and cultures, but also the celebration of everything that we have in common and, maybe surprisingly, how plentiful that aspect is.

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Newspaper

of Culture’s contribution at Khour al-Mukalla and the Balfaqih Center, and prepare a comprehensive action plan for this purpose.

International College holds its Annual Exhibition at USTY

The Facts As They Are Abdul-Karim Mufadhal Sports Editor

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Arab and foreign countries to participate in Balda Festival

Whom to Satisfy?

Fakhri al-Arashi Publisher & Chief Editor

Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

Wardah Al-shawesh Graphic Designer

Ali Abdullah Ajlan IT Editor

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National Yemen

Yemeni Women Fall For Qat - 65% of Yemeni women fall in love with qat - No decisive judgment was passed to prohibit qat-chewing - There are different special rituals for women’s qat sittings Najla’a Ali al-Shaibani Chewing qat leaves and masticating for long hours is a familiar scene among Yemeni men, who have monopolized this fad for far too long a time, with women never being daring enough to encroach on this turf. However, nothing continues forever; women are forming an ardent competitor in qat-chewing divans. This phenomenon now includes all women, from secondary school girls to housewives.

According to a recent study, the habit the used to be considered a taboo for women but has now spread to approximately 65% of them, and the number is expected to escalate further especially that more and more secondary school girls and female graduate students are joining qat sessions.

The custom covers all governorates, and the evening sitting has different names in different provinces; in Sana’a it is called tafrutah, in Taiz and Aden qailah and Hodeidah they call it nashrah.

There are two types of feminine gatherings: general and special gatherings. The first are hold on occasions and the second are held without occasions. The latter has been introduced only a few years ago.

While chewing qat women usually watch satellite channels, discuss politics, the economy and culture. Some sittings turn into forums where girls exchange views and, suddenly, complacent housewives transform into insightful political analysts, and girls, who have not finished their school or universities become military experts. However, politics is always the prevalent topic for discussion, and women qat-chewers provide their solutions for the Palestinian Cause, the crisis in Iraq, the situation in Lebanon and all views are put on the table for discussion.

The sessions are then adjourned and concerns are postponed to other meetings that would consider the same cases tirelessly.

It’s my mum’s fault While many would consider this craze as a problem, many women see it as a panacea. Regina says that qat is an effective means that helps her to lose weight and become slimmer, whereas, many female students in school or universities and journalists see it as a stimulating substance that helps them concentrate when studying, reading and writing. They claim that this plant causes, or helps, them to come up with new and interesting ideas and views. As for those who have been married for some time, qat-chewing is an inevitable destiny and a refuge from their daily worries and boredom.

Sua’ad al-Wesabi, 29, took up qat on advice from her mother in an effort to get her to stay at home. Now she has this plant on daily basis. “When I first chewed qat,” remembers Sua’ad, “I had a queer feeling of happiness and relief, so I decided to repeat the experience. The more I had qat, the further I became addicted to it and to its sittings, to the extent that it almost gives you spiritual delight.”

Then, when she decided to quit such sessions after having heard about all the health hazards associated with qat, Sua’ad found

that she could not do that, and neither did anyone try to help her to achieve that goal. She felt isolated, even when sitting with her qat-chewing friends who kept teasing her about quitting. She insisted, “It’s all my mother’s fault, she was the one who persuaded me to chew qat in the first place.”

Mariam al-Rumaim, a teacher, says she resorts to qat to escape from her troubles, which are largely school pressures and her students, and to kill time in the evening. She asserts that many young women in towns buy qat more regularly than they do make-up, perfumes and dresses.

“Why should Yemeni women,” wonders Sadia al-Wesabi, a housewife, “remain confined within four walls, while men are free to go out and chew qat with friends until late at night.” She says that when a woman chews qat her very soul is stirred, and she no longer feels so isolated, in addition to it enabling her to vent her concerns, anxieties and aspirations, and discuss, at the same time, all the same issues broached by men.

Divan stars

Prof. Najat Sayem, psychology professor at Sana’a University and author of the study “Yemeni Women and Qat” says, “There is a connection between women’s going to social occasions like births, weddings and funerals and what happens following the ‘asr prayer’ (after 3:00pm); they keeping going to visit mothers who have delivered babies for forty days, in the case of funeral visits, they continue for 23 days and for wedding the period is standard between one to three weeks. Attendance of such occasions used to be restricted to married women alone, except for one or two days of the wedding period for unmar-

ried young women. They were not allowed to attend the birth or funeral occasion or to chew qat that was allowed only for older married women.”

Women’s general gatherings in cities and in the countryside are usually crowded (sometimes the number of guests could exceed 100 at a time).

As for private gatherings, these are convened without specific occasions and qat is usually the common factor for these events.

Unmarried and married young women are considered the stars of these gatherings at which all women (often 15 women) chew qat or smoke sheesha. It is preferable in these sittings to have only a small number of women, and they are usually all close friends or cronies.

The events started off secretively because young women were not supposed to chew qat. But nowadays it is normal for each member of the group to be tasked with a part of an elaborate social program, including hosting the qat-chewing session.

Private qat sessions have their own ceremonies; in addition to the group’s enjoyment of a quiet, relaxing and secluded atmosphere, the hostess prepares the room of the assembly (commonly known in Yemen as diwan) by cleaning and perfuming it with incense, preparing soft drinks commonly drunk with qat including barley based drinks, other beverages, as well as cold and incensed water. Some women would bring along cardamom, cane sugar, carnation and mint that are also used with qat. Some would even bring a hookah.

The hostess also prepares music cassettes and competition may intensify between friends to the extent of hiring a woman signer to show off generosity and good entertainment. Another common

factor: talk is usually about fashion and housekeeping

Qat and culture

Yemeni women intellectuals have put their mark on these sessions and made up many excuses to justify doing this.

Amal, a journalist specializing in social affairs, says that qat does not fall into any drugs category and it is not forbidden by Islamic law either. “It’s only a stimulating plant that gives us relief and complete comfort and help us get rid of our worries,” she reiterates.

She chews qat when she has a busy schedule, so Amal makes sure that she buys good quality qat to help meet her obligations.

Afrah al-Raimi, a businesswoman, says that chewing qat is associated with a number of factors such as killing time, the lack of parks and clubs and the type of the girl’s friends or rather, the social clique one falls into. “I do nothing until when I spend hours chewing qat,” says Afrah, “and when qat kicks in, I feel like the queen of the world.”

Real tragedy

A number of NGOs have been established to fight qat. Some of these collapsed before even blowing out their first candle.

The remaining society that is still holding out (despite its staff’s frustration and distress when witnessing the fast spread of this plague) is the National Society for Fighting Qat Damages, and it was founded in 1992.

Mohammed Al-Haweri, professor of economy at Sana’a University, thinks that qat-chewing is a complex economic and social problem and that it increases and permeates the society day after day especially among women.

He says that qat negatively affects family budgets because it accounts for about 17% of the their monthly income, which im-

balances the financial status of those with limited or negligible incomes.

Yahia Al-Nawd, Professor of sociology said that women’s contribution to alleviate the problem is a fantasy as long as they form half of the society that has made qatchewing part of its daily life. “Qat for Yemeni women,” he goes on, “is the weapon they use to fight back the vacuum of their life, disperse monotony and escape from the daily boring routine they suffer within the walls of their homes.”

Scary statistics

The Human Development Report issued recently by the Ministry of Planning caused a paralyzing shock for both men and women, when it indicated that 50% of women, of whom 30% are women between 20 and 30, regularly chewed.

Another study conducted on 1,000 women showed that over 77% of the study sample chew qat and that 70% of these are married with children and 30% of them are employees and students.

What is even worse is that the number of newcomers is on the steady increase, said Dr. Ashjan Sultan, who had supervised a field study on some of Sana’a University students. Ashjan says that the study concluded that about 65% of educated young women from all educational levels resort to qat to kill time.

According to another study conducted by Mr. Rabi’a AlKhamisi on qat-chewing weekly average, about 82.45% of women qat chewers have qat everyday, 59.15% once, 47% twice, 61.10% three times, 47.5% four times and 18.4% chew qat five times a week.

Legitimate or illegitimate?

While qat chewing spreads further and further in society, es-

pecially among young men and women, no decisive advisory opinion has been issued. This plant could throw a wedge between the scholars who cannot agree on forbidding it. Whereas some of them say it is not forbidden because no narcotic effects have been proven or established, so it cannot be compared to either alcohol or the drugs, other say it is forbidden because it wastes time and money, and causes a variety of diseases, as physicians regularly affirm.

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So in the view of this legal and social disagreement, the problem continues gathering momentum and the green leaves keep on seducing more and more people and the qat-chewing diwans open their doors to new .chewers everyday

National Yemen

Community

Dr.Tariq Sinan Abu Luhom, the chairman of the Board Directors of USTY, is walking and appreciating the students’ drawing.

Dr.Dawood Al-Hadabi, Vice chairman of the Board Directors USTY, is listening to students presentation.

Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

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Al-Shaymaa Ismail Al-Dailami, who is on her sixth semester of the Interior Architecture Course. She has selected Chinese architectural elements to be used in her design.

Amira Al-Sharif & Shahrel Nizar Baharom International College (IC) Exhibition This exhibition was designed to show and promote the hidden treasure of the student creativity within the International College in the University Science and Technology Yemen (USTY). It is a collection of concepts, ideas and skills made by the students in an effort in order to tell the people that there is a innovative group of students in Yemen, and to help people to understand and appreciate their creativity. This exhibition is a combination of the work from four degree courses, including Graphic Design & Digital Media, Interior Architecture Design, Business Administration, and Information Technology (IT). The work of the students come from those currently enrolled in courses between their first and eighth semesters. The number of the pieces displayed reaches more than five hundred.

Fatema Shefa, 22 years old, said: “my project is called Online Job Seekers.

Dr.Dawood Al-Hadabi, Vice chairman of the Board Directors, USTY expresses his congratulations and constructive criticisms towards the students work in photography.

The creative idea of the students to produce place of purchasing and awareness.

Packaging designs made by students for advertising subjects.

Powerful computer graphics used to produce a complex digital illustration.

A creative model made by the Interior Architecture students.

‘photo essays’ and ‘photo stories’ The students choose their own theme, and generate their own creative ideas.

Nahed Aziz, 21 years old, says: “Graphic Design declared it is a project of Electronic Media Class.

Congratulation on your promotion We would like to present our heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Faoud Hammid on the well deserved higher to Deputy General Manager of Movenpick Sana’a Hotel The management of the hotel have taken the right decision for the right person. wish you all the best and a lot of success for your work On behalf of all the team of

National Yemen Fakhri H. al-Arashi Publisher & Chief Editor

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Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

REPORT

National Yemen

Child labor in Yemen: an exacerbated situation and a bitter reality Child labor is one the most perilous problems that threaten Yemen’s social cohesion and balance today. It stems from social and economic disparities that lead to widespread poverty.

Photo AMIRA AL-SHARIF

In view of such social and economic developments, and in an effort to confront such changes that might obstruct development, Yemen ratified in 1991 the International Convention on Child Rights, including Article 32 that stipulates protecting children from economic exploitation or performing any work that is considered hazardous or may prevent the child from going to school, might be hazardous to the child’s health, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social growth.

The same article calls upon member states to take necessary legislative, administrative, social and educational measures that would guarantee implementing this article, especially through realizing the following points: a. Defining a minimum age for child labor; b. Designing an appropriate system for working hours and conditions; c.

Imposing appropriate penalties to guarantee effective implementation of this Article.

Also Yemeni labor law No. 5 (1995) provides in Article 48 that juvenile working hours should not exceed more than 7 hours a day (42 hours a week) and that employers should give the children an hour break, and not to force children to work for more than 5 consecutive hours.

The article also prohibits forcing children to work overtime, during official holidays, or at night, unless such activities are permitted by the labor ministry.

Article 49 of the law forbids employing children without their parents’ consent and even after the permission is granted, the child should be registered at the labor office to guarantee control and regulation of their

work conditions. It also forbids children to work in remote areas and obliges the employer to provide work environment in accordance with the conditions dictated by the ministry on health and safety standards.

Article 51 of this law binds the employer to: - Dedicate a record for each child worker that includes the basic information required by the ministry of labor or its local office; - Conduct a preliminary medical check-up for each child in addition to subsequent periodical examinations as deemed necessary; - Show clearly and in places where children are working the regulations of child labor and child rights in accordance with labor law regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor.

Article 145 imposes a YR 1,000 to 10,000 fine on employers who would violate provisions of the labor law.

But has Yemen succeeded by joining this convention and drafting such legislations in restricting the spread of this problem? And, are such laws actually implemented in reality?

In view of some studies and official statistics, the reality of child labor is far from good.

And the efforts made by the government cannot completely contain the problem, or at least implement conventions and laws that might regulate the phenomenon of child labor.

According to official statistics issued by Central Statistics Authority, the 1994 census showed there were about 231,655 child laborers aging 10 to 14 years, of whom 51.7% boys and 48.3% girls.

Labor surveys performed in 1991 and the 1994 census indicate that child labor multiplied, and that the number of children joining the workforce market had increased by 3% during that period alone.

Although these numbers may be less than the actual figures, it is only logical that the number must have been multiplied many times since then.

According to a study conducted in 2009 on a sample group of child workers, most of them (80.5%) were between 12 and 14 years old and most of these (96.5%) were boys. The study said that the majority of working children are from the countryside (84%) compared to 16% who were born in urban areas. Up to 69.5%, the study said, were dropouts and most of them left school while in either the 5th or 6th grade. Many of these children come from larger families (92.5% have families of 5 to 10 persons) and the average number of family members in the overall sample was 7 people.

As for the “professions” taken up by child laborers, the working children from rural areas (96%) work in the agriculture and fishing sectors (92%). However, the most popular jobs in urban areas are selling, services (29.6%) and petty / vocational works (17.6), for all children working in cities.

According to the study, the labors of the children according to nonorganizational vocations in the city of Aden, the largest section is in fishing (25%) working as assistants to fishermen, followed by those working in collecting metals (19%), and distributing cooking gas cylinders (14.5%), children in auto tire service stores (13%), those selling vegetable on wheelbarrows and tricycles (8.5%) and children working in agriculture (7%). The rest includes, among other things, working as bus and microbus fare collectors, cement sack deliverers and other ‘porter’ jobs.

The study concluded that there is a connection between child labor and families with low incomes that do not meet their daily needs.

This applies to 92.5% of the sample group whose families live on YR 10,000 to 19,000 a month.

Poverty and economic deterioration force families to look for other sources to improve their income. Most of these families (69%) depend on their father’s income, while 31% rely on the money earned by the child or their children. The study said that up to 88% of the children in the research sample said they work to support their families and to learn a profession or vocation for the future (55.5%), while 42.5% said they believe that working is better than studying for their future, 11.5% said they are working because they did not succeed in school, 8% said they were investing their free time, 6% said they need money for their personal needs and 1.5% said they were copying their friends.

They study indicated also that 68.5% of the sample group started working on request of their

Photo AMIRA AL-SHARIF

Mansoor Al-Rdaei

families, 21.5% said they worked out of their free will, 8.5% said the decision was made by a relative and 1.5% were influenced by working friends. About 36% of the study sample were working

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In reality no laws are applied where wages are concerned. According to the above study, 63.5% earn wages although 16% of them earn less than YR 5,000 per month and about 47% make between YR 5,000 and 9,000, which is very little and counts for less than half of the minimum monthly wage earned by an adult worker, who receives, on average, about YR 20,000 a month. What is even worse, the study goes on to say, is that working children are used by their families; 52.3% give all or most of their earnings to families and it is usual for employers to agree with the family to give them the child’s salary.

for family’s friends (mostly from the same village as that of the child in the city), 21.5% for the employer of a family member and 21.5% for a relative, 7.5% work for non-relative employers and only 5.5% are self-employed.

Child laborers’ wages In reality no laws are applied where wages are concerned.

According to the above study, 63.5% earn wages although 16% of them earn less than YR 5,000 per month and about 47% make between YR 5,000 and 9,000, which is very little and counts for less than half of the minimum monthly wage earned by an adult worker, who receives, on average, about YR 20,000 a month. What is even worse, the study goes on to say, is that working children are used by their families; 52.3% give all or most of their earnings to families and it is usual for employers to agree with the family to give them the child’s salary. Children consider this a right of the family in return for them to have food, clothes and accommodation. The problem does not stop at this, as the study confirm that employers force children (89%) to work from 7 to 8 hours a day, 7.5% work from 4 to 6 hours and 3.5 work for more than 10 hours a day. When calculating the average of daily working hours the study found that it was about 8.5 hours a day and about 92% work weekends, all of which conflicts with both the international conventions and all national legislations on child labor, and is, above all, an outright violation of children’s rights.

According to the above study, that was prepared by specialists and funded by Rada Barnen, a Swedish organization advocating child rights, on a random sample of bout 1,000 working children between 7 and 15 years old, it turned out that their workplaces are associated with several safety and health hazards, and that their work is usually ‘exhausting’.

The study also registered a high percentage of harm among

working children; about 22% suffer permanent injuries, including: poisoning (18%); injuries by fire (13.6); electrical shock (7.2%), and; about quarter of the children suffered from exposure to cold while 7% caught infectious and serious diseases.

The study indicated specifically some typical worksites which posed the most danger to Yemeni youths, particularly: Construction sites: where lifting heavy materials could easily cause breaks and fractures, and even hinder the child’s normal growth; Automobile brakes maintenance workshops: exposure to asbestos can cause cancer; Service stations: exposure to petroleum is another cause of cancer; Workshops, car garages and other industrial sites: working children will probably catch respiratory diseases due to polluted air, fumes and vapors they inhale, in addition to suffering muscular problems that are caused by keeping the body in uncomfortable positions for a long time.

The streets: here children may be exposed to physical violence, and other types of violence, they may also catch cold ailments and respiratory diseases from inhaling car exhaust fumes. The survey showed that many of the sample children were forced to take up physically exhausting jobs and that about half of these have become exhausted either because their jobs were strenuous in nature (11%), too long (33%) or due to the fact they were only offered short breaks, if any (6%).

This is reality based on figures and statistics and it may be even worse and far more serious that we think.

The questions that we should be answering now are: to what extent the relevant government agencies realize the magnitude, effects and consequences of the problem? What are the policies and plans prepared restrict this grave and devastating problem?

REPORTAGE National Yemen Parliamentary bane: Lack of Quorum

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Mr. Mohammed al-Shadadi, deputy speaker of the Yemeni parliament, called to the attention of the members of the parliament and to the general public a regrettable fact: convening parliamentary sessions was frequently done without the due quorum, that is, without the number of members necessary to legally pass parliamentary actions.

Gamdan Al-Yosifi Two weeks ago when Mr. Yahia Al-Ra’i, the Speaker of the House, was absent, Mr. Al-Shadadi objected to hold a session without having the due quorum.

It always happens and is covered by media. However, the parliament secretariat reports prepare attendance sheets of at least 152 MPs although the opening meeting of the current term of the parliament, presided by al-Ra’i, was attended by merely 76 MPs. The absence of the Speaker of Parliament was a chance for Mr. al-Shadadi to highlight this problem and express his obligation to the constitution and parliament’s

internal by-laws when he refused to open the session until they had the plenary quorum. He announced that the number of the MPs attending Sunday’s session was 137, not 151.

Mr. al-Shadadi was under great pressure by a number of MPs to begin the session but nothing could make him change his mind.

This event was cheered by the MPs who expressed their appreciation to the al-Shadadi enthusiasm to apply the constitution and internal by-laws. Some of the MPs, including Mr. Abdul-Aziz Joubari, viewed this as a message to the parliament speaker, Mr. al-

Ra’i whereas the others said that they did not realize that the alRra’i had been opening sessions with a lack of quorum.

Mr. Himiar Abdullah al-Ahmar, the other deputy speaker, tried to open Monday’s session without the plenary quorum, but the matter did not pass as quietly as expected. Instead, arguments broke out over holding the session without the due quorum. The majority requested a vote on whether to hold the session or not, even after the deputy speaker announced that that the session lacked the plenary quorum.

The dispute was settled when

the MP Mr. Ali Ashal explained that constitution stipulates that “no session is to be held without the due quorum”, emphasizing the fact that there shall not be a vote where there is a clear constitutional provision. Therefore, AlAhmar adjourned the session considering it a consultation meeting that would not be broadcasted.

As for Tuesday’s session, the MPs waited until 12:00pm but the number was still fewer than those the two previous days, so, again, the session was adjourned.

A number of MPs believe this to be temporary and that the Speaker of Parliament will come back and

continue his breach of the constitution by holding sessions without the due quorum.

The MP, Mr. Abdul-Karim Shaiban told the National Yemen “We know that parliament always holds its sessions with a lack of quorum and Mr. Alshadadi seeks to apply the constitutional bylaws.

Should this be the situation all the time, Parliament would be better and will totally change”. He added, “parliament never complies with the constitution or law, or even tribal norms. This council is meant to be marginalized and prevented from playing its real role.

When agendas are presented from

time to time, we find out that they are actually draft laws.”

Other MPs accused the Parliamentary presidential board benefiting from the absence of the MPs. “The board cut from their salaries and kept such cuts for itself as if the parliament was a profit organization, MP Abdo Basher said. Mr. Mohammed al-Salehi, another MP, noted that a number of the MPs protest against this policy either openly or secretly because of these practices.

Samir Jubran, Sami Al-Kaf, Abdelrazeq Al-Jamal, Abelmalek Al-Mathil, Mohammed Al-‘Ala’i and Awad Qashmim.

The newspaper Al-Asemah and the journalist Khaled Al-Alawani.

The Al-Masdar Online news website (www.almasdaronline), which had been blocked since February, became accessible yesterday as a result of the presidential amnesty.

Reporters Without Borders points out that Mohamed AlMountasir, a correspondent of the daily Al-Yawm, sustained a head injury when he was attacked by members of the security forces in

Al-Dali province (south of Sanaa) on 29th May while covering a sit-in by opposition parties. The police confiscated his camera and held him for six hours.

Reporters Without Borders has learned that Wael Al-Kabati, a university student who works as a journalist for the newspaper Akhbar Aden, was forbidden to sit his exams this year and the next two years after criticising the situation in the university in his articles.

Special court abandons cases against 33 journalists Reporters Without Borders welcomes the decision by a Yemeni court tasked with dealing with the journalist cases, on 8 June, to abandon eight prosecutions against 33 journalists in line with a previously announced amnesty by President Abdullah Saleh, to mark the 20th anniversary of the unification of North and South Yemen.

Mohammed al-Asaadi alasaadi.m@gmail.com “We hail President Saleh’s decision to drop charges against 33 journalists, but we condemn the arbitrary nature of the arrests and detentions to which they have been exposed and the fact that they have been the victims of mistreatment and even torture,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“We call on the authorities to investigate this matter and to punish those responsible.”

The press freedom organisation added: “We also call on the authorities to suppress the special court for press offences and we point out that Yemeni journalists are still being attacked physically

by security forces.”

In his announcement on the 8th June, Minister of Justice Ghazi Chaif Al-Agbari said the decision to suspend the legal proceedings concerning the journalists prosecuted on charges of “undermining national unity,” “inciting regionalism” and “spreading false news with the aim of weakening the armed forces.”

The president’s amnesty was announced on 22.

The eight cases that have been abandoned concerned these eight newspapers and 33 journalists: The weekly Al-Share’ and

the following members of its staff: Naef Hassan, Mohamed Ali Mouhsin Al-Barti, Adib AlSayed, Abdel Wahed Ali Ahmed, Moustafa Ali Issa, Abdel Rab Darwish, Mohamed Mohamed Al-Habashi and Wadad Ayyash.

The daily Al-Ayyam, its founder and owner Hisham Bashraheel and the following members of its staff: Mohamed Mershed Aqabi, Kaed Zeid Thabet, Ghazi Mehsen Al-Alawi, Salah Al-Qashmi and Hisham Etayri.

The weekly Al-Diyar and these four journalists: Abed AlMahzari, Majed Al-Dai’ri, Shafi’ Al-Abed and Ali Salem Saleh

Ben Yehia.

The newspaper Hadith AlMadena and its editor Fakri Qassem.

The newspaper Al-Watani and the following members of its staff: Abdel Raqib Al-Hadyani, Seif Awad Al-Mashali, Fathi Ben AlAzrak, Yaser Hasan Mohamed, Saleh Moubarak, Al-Ghrabi and Abdel Rahman Ahmed Haza’ AlMouhamadi.

The daily Al-Thawry and these two members of its staff: Khaled Salman and Mohamed Mohamed Al-Maqalih.

The weekly Al-Masdar and the following members of its staff:

http://en.rsf.org/yemenspecial-court-abandonscases-10-06-2010,37716.html

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ADVERTISMENTS

National Yemen

National Yemen Health Care System, challenge and Zero results

HEALTH

Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

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Yemeni health services have witnessed huge developments since the revolution of September 1962; several public hospitals have been established in most governorates, the government gives much attention to the public health service but there are some people who complain and question the extent of this development, asking specifically: what are the things that should be developed and improved in our health care system?

Mohamed Al-Attab According to 2003 statistics, the population in Yemen has reached 20,357,000. There are currently 3,195 physicians working in Yemen, which means that there is only one doctor for every 6,372 Yemeni citizens. Another major problem arises from the fact that the large majority of all health care facilities are concentrated in the bigger cities, making it difficult for country and rural folk to access them.

According to Dr. Abdul-Hamid Qabbas: “The conditions in the hospitals have deteriorated seriously in recent years, and health services in general are getting much, much worse.”

Hani Al-Ansi said that in his village in Anis, the health centers are simply not equipped with the supplies that the doctors need, so most patients have to travel to Sana’a for treatment. “Even if you can manage to find a health center, it is impossible that you will find it stocked with the equipment that doctors require in order to do their jobs. It has become apparent that if these health centers are not provided with what they need, they must be shut down.”

Hamied Al-Sharafi, who is one of the residents of Dhola’a Hamdan said that “one of our relatives went to one of the private hospitals to treat his

daughter who suffered from some dizziness, they were advised to go to one of the private hospitals. At that hospital the doctor told them to her to undertake all the medical examinations. He continued, “some of these checkups like the ( MRA) cost us around 50 thousand YR, I did not feel that my daughter’s illness was that serious, in order to make all those tests, and ,the doctor did not allow us to take her out of the hospital until we had agreed to and paid for the tests, claiming that she had a serious illness. I think that they want to get as much money as they can from their patients.”

He also explained about the secret relationship between pharmaceutical agencies and doctors, “the reason why you see one doctor is prescribing one type of medicine and another prescribe a different one, is that doctors have financial incentives in dispensing specific drugs from these agencies, if they prescribe their brands of medicines.

Sometimes even the doctor will tell you to go to a specific medical laboratory otherwise, he wouldn’t accept the result.”

Hamied’s complain made us wonder what makes some doctors so greedy and breach their famous ‘Hippocratic Oath’. We tried to meet one of the doctors

who worked for one of the private hospitals, although this physician preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, he said that the manager of the hospital requires us to make the patient to do all possible medical tests that his hospital offers, even though I know that such patient whose symptoms of illness do not need all these medical tests, because some of them are completely unrelated to what he or she is suffering.”

He added that “the hospital manager justifies that he wants to pay for everything and he faces several financial obligations, such as the salaries of the doctors and the people who work at the hospital.” He explained that this manager told them once, “I did not open a welfare hospital”.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Masouri said that most patients will not come to the hospital unless they have reached a critical condition. This means that the doctors often do not have much time to save them.

Ahmed Rajeh, a local, said, “The reason that patients do not

go to hospitals until they are very seriously ill is because they do not feel that Yemeni hospitals are that reliable.”

He also spoke about the problem of all the health services being confined to the big cities. We want the health services in our country to be developed, and also for the facilities to be distributed and equally accessible all over Yemen.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Muntasir said: “Most people come to the hospitals in Sana’a when they need treatment, yet we do not have the facilities here to treat everyone. Most doctors are not willing to practice in the rural areas and villages because their salaries would be too low.”

Another physician, Dr. AbdulRahman Al-Moayyad, said, “Even the most modern and best equipped hospitals in Sana’a lack some fundamental medical tools.

Often, simple disposable items such as gloves and needles are not available. Sometimes I have to buy these things with my own money.”

However, the public is often not so objective as to consider the problems facing Yemen’s medical centers. Often, blame falls upon their first point of contact, the doctors themselves. Mohammed Al-Saidi, whose grandmother was taken to hospital for treatment of a blood clot said, “My grandmother died because the doctors did not act quickly enough. They did not locate the clot in time, and left her until there was not enough time to save her.”

“If you have good connections and relations inside the public hospitals, you will receive all the health services that you need, but if you do not, you will need to queue for your turn for a long time and you might not receive the same level of healthcare,” he added.

Ahmed Saleh, whose brother was injured in a car accident, accompanied him to a private hospital. He said “my brother was not in critical condition when I brought him to hospital, but after they operated on him, the doctors told me that he could

die and transferred him to a public hospital, saying that they could not provide him with the treatment he needed.”

Yehya Ahmed, another local, said, “If the government does not want to offer decent health services it should at least control and regulate laws concerning the opening and functioning of private hospitals, because they deal with human beings, and not with animals.”

Given the problems that people here face, regardless of the source of fault, most Yemenis who can afford to do so travel abroad for medical treatment, a phenomenon known in Arabic as ‘medical tourism’. However, the large majority of the population cannot cover either the travel expenses or the cost of foreign hospitals.

It is absolutely necessary that the government take steps to improve the health services in Yemen drastically, and ensure that they are distributed all over the country.

Letters to the Editor

MODERNITY HAS COME BEFORE Shams Al-Hani How much would you be willing to pay to expiate yourself from sins and to avoid hellfire?

We know that it is God alone who forgives or punishes, but there was a period in Christian history during which this question was meant quite litera lly. You were granted indulgence and pardon by the Vatican according to the sum which you could afford to “donate”. Prayers to be admitted into heaven were once upon a time sold and bought just as any other commodity goods.

In those days, if you had a family you had to be very careful not to behave in an unusal manner, nor dress in black too often, lest you might be accused of practicing sorcery or witchcraft.

Witch hunts were a common practice in Europe’s Dark and Middle Ages, and a woman’s life was once considered so trifle that even if someone merely dreamed she was complicit in witchcraft and they reported it to the authorities, it was likely that she would be sentenced to death, and executed in a most humiliating and gruesome way.

This execution usually happened in the city center where huge crowds gathered to witness, with great relish, the supposed witch being burned alive.

Men could not consider themselves safe either; Galileo Galilei,an Italian scientist who publicly declared that the earth rotated around the sun had to denounce his (correct) statements fearing for his life, because anything contradicting the Church’s view was considered heresy, i.e. a blasphemy, deserving a severe punishment. Somehow theologians at that time had deduced from Biblical verses that the earth was immobile and static at the center of the universe, and that the sun moved in an orbit around it. Galileo’s experiments contradicted this concept, but it was unacceptable to believe that the Bible was fallible and could be wrong, so ‘the Inquisition’, a religious body, had to intervene to prevent the spreading of such dangerous scientific discoveries.

The belief that Jesus was the “son of God” was actually a formally agreed upon point; A council was convened to discuss whether Christ had existed or not, and if he was merely a historical figure, a prophet or a divinity, with the latter belief winning the majority.

Another controversial topic for the Christian doctrine was the nature of women. Some of

them, of course, were witches, but what about the rest? As little as 200 years ago some of the clergy still held doubts about whether women had souls, and if they did their souls had to be closer to those of an animal rather than to those of a men.

Furthermore, they were viewed as the cursed progeny of Eve, the first woman created who infamously led to the downfall of the paradise garden of Eden in which man used to live, and that accordingly they should be damned for their beauty and corrupting power, since it has led men into temptation and misery since the dawn of time.

Around 15 million native Africans were kidnapped and deported to America to be sold as slaves. Dog collars were put around their necks.

And if that wasn’t humiliating enough it was believed at that time that they were made from “darkness” itself, and consisted of a mixture of crimes and sins.

Some of them, after enduring the hardships of their day, were tied to a trunk and taught a prayer in which they thanked the Lord for being kidnapped and taken away from their homeland and family, so that they could find out about the ‘true’ religion and do good by serving ‘the white man’.

Around the 20th century some of these contradictions and injustices were uncovered to be as morally repulsive as they truly are, so the West, eventually, put an end to them, and now it declares itself to be a modern and just society.

Even so, ‘old habits die hard’, and such discriminations and prejudices are difficult to erase completely.

Now consider that some 1400 years ago our Prophet (PBUH) was already preaching the equality of man, regardless of class status, race, gender, lineage, colour or wealth.Furthermore, he prohibited any form of usury, and emphasized the humanity of women (in stark contradiction to Christian attitudes at the time) as complementary and equal to men; not only had she the rights to life, of property, and to be treated with the utmost kindness and respect. She was a gift given to men which had the duty to care for her till their death. The Prophet also encouraged every believer to gain knowledge and never to force religion upon peoples, since it is only Allah who guides whom He wills.

Yours is the choice to determine who was really “modern”

Dear Mr. Fakhri, I’d like to thank you for your courtesy and DISPEONIBILITY and congratulate you and your staff for the newspaper’s publishing liked it at first sight.

I hope you’ll be interested in the articles and that you’ll let me know about your opinion in their regard. Thanks again.

Jihan Anwar

Dear Mr. Al-Arashi The paper looks very nice - I am sure other newspapers will start to imitate yours!

All the best K.M.B Dear Editor, I have seen the newly published National Yemen newspaper issued under your guidance and patronage, and I have noticed particularly the young blood and innovative spirit manifested in the design layout, quality of columns and articles, the type of topics discussed and number of ads therein.

I congratulate you and all the staff of National Yemen for this great step in your professional life. Please keep up the good work with more ideas to make an additional and valuable contribution to the Englishlanguage press in Yemen. To keep such progress, you need to recruit more professionals, specifically prominent journalists and writers.

Basheer Al-Shuaibi Sana’a

Dear Editor, As I’m currently abroad in the United States right now I haven’t had a chance to see the second issue. Is there any way I can access the paper online?

I’d love to get a chance to read it from distance.

Regards Brian

Dear Editor, Now we have a choice in Yemen in regards to quality English language news..

I am so proud to see young Yemenis like yourself take such challenges and surpass them.

I do recall you mentioning it to me about three months ago that you would be launching a weekly English newspaper.

Now you have done it. I am impressed Fakhri. Keep it up, and I wish you all the success.

Salem Alkendi

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Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

SPORTS

National Yemen

Youth and sport fund: its reality and ambitions Building societies: Yemen’s Special Olympics working paper in Morocco Abdul-Karim Mufadhal

The Children, Youth & Sport Fund has aided sport-playing youths since its launch in October 1996 and has made considerable achievements in terms of promoting sports through holding competitions and constructing key items of infrastructure that would aid youth development, such as stadiums, international halls, youth hostels, science centers and cultural libraries.

And for 14 years, the fund underwent a number of stages that have made their marks administratively, organizationally, technically and financially.

Nevertheless, the fund has suffered over the past two years from financial difficulties, which led the government to form a committee headed by the Youth and Sports Minister to consider ways to increase the funding resources through a study prepared by Omar al-Sha’abi, the CYSF income director.

National Yemen has reviewed the fund since its establishment over a decade ago.

Yemen has preceded other gulf countries’ efforts in promoting team sports by about 50 years, when the British used to occupy the former South Yemen. But sports after the British withdrawal suffered a lack of resources until the mid 1990s, hindering Yemen’s progress in this field. There used to be only sand and concrete stadiums, except for of Abyan and Al-Thawra stadiums.

Teams depended on their own resources from the players themselves and from foreign donations.

Realizing the importance of youth in general and sportsmen in particular, the country’s leadership represented by H.E. president Ali Abdullah Saleh set up the fund in 1996 according to presidential decree No. 10/1996 as a means to promote sports in Yemen and help the youth develop and improve their abilities and make the most of their free time so that they would not be

, Lack of commitment to the objectives of the fund that dictate allocating 75% of the resources for creating infrastructure and the rest 25% for sports events and functions.

In reality, the opposite is happening; training camps and internal and external participations take most of the funds;

attracted by drugs or be prone to joining criminal groups.

In 1999 the president ordered the fund’s resources to be increased seven fold through law No. 26/1999, which resulted in building new major sports facilities including the facilities that would host Gulf 20 next November.

Thanks to efforts made by the fund, Yemen won a number of medals in championships held in Arab and Asian countries and our youth team qualified to youth finals in Finland in 2003.

Difficulties and obstacles The fund has spent liberally on sports facilities, sports events and sports clubs’ investment projects but its resources declined sharply and its balance ‘went into the red’ some months ago because the sources could not meet its needs any more.

Some of the difficulties of the fund are: Law No. 4/2000 that provided for cutting one third of the fund resources to support local councils; Lack of commitment to the objectives of the fund that stipulate allocating 75% of the resources for creating infrastructure and the rest 25% for sports events and functions. In reality, the opposite is happening; training camps and

internal and external participations take most of the funds; Failure of some agencies to pay their dues to the fund; The increase in the costs of sport equipment, building materials and Yemeni currency’s fall against the dollar (it used to be YR 80 per dollar), while the fund resources are still almost the same; The increment in sports functions and activities including the President’s Cup for the Youth, summer centers, youth and scouts centers that deduct a good portion of the fund revenues in addition to the support that goes to local and international competitions etc.; Support to youth institutions affiliated to the sports ministry and supervised by the fund like the Olympic Committee, boy and girl scouts, cultural committee and science and sports medicine centers. These institutions should have been allocated their own budgets; Support to other bodies including schools, civil society institutions, sports media federation, newspapers, libraries inside sports clubs in addition to national celebrations and festivals; Support for hosting Gulf 20 that was dedicated YR 5 billion.

Yemen Table Tennis Federation host major event in 2011

Iraqi coach to stay with Tilal team

Exclusive – National Yemen has known through its sources that the Yemeni Table Tennis Federation has received a letter from the Asian Table Tennis Federation concerning organizing Asia table tennis championship, which is considered the largest of its kind in the world and, in terms of technical level, it is even more important than table tennis cup championship. This is because the best 35 table tennis countries are from Asia.

Deputy chairman of the Tilal club, Mr. Yasser Hawshab told the media that Akram Salman, the team’s coach was to remain in his position despite rumors that the club fans were pressing the administration to fire him after the team’s failure to win the 2010 league in spite of the huge resources (over YR 300 million) and distinguished players made available to him.

Dr. Issam al-Senaini, chairman of board of directors of the federation, said the federation is considering the request before referring it to the Ministry of Youth & Sport to approve it especially that holding such championship would be very costly. He added that should Yemen manage to accommodate the event, it would be the most important for Yemen.

Hawshab said the club has renewed the coach’s contract, and denied that they had been negotiating with Ibrahim Yosuf al-Sakr coach or Yemeni coach Sami Na’ash.

Analysts say that the team’s administration might have been trying to avoid paying the fine stipulated in his contract agreement in the event that the contract was to be ended prematurely.

Yemen participated in the 2010 Special Olympics Global Congress held in Marrakech, Morocco from 6 to 10 June 2010.

Yemen took part in a matter which concerned the second point of the agenga, namely, ‘building societies’, through a paper prepared and presented by Mr. Faris al-Sanabani, the chairman of board of directors to the Special Olympics.

Al-Sanabani asserted that choosing such a topic was based on its significance for the mentally challenged in general, and players of the special Olympics in particular. He added that the paper aimed to establish social awareness of the rights of this category of people that forms an indispensible part of the society.

Accommodating Gulf 20 delegation: the mother of all problems!

Exclusive – Many news items and reports inside Yemen and outside have expressed fears during the past months over Yemen’s ability to host a function as huge as Gulf 20 and the capacity of the supervising committee.

One of the major problems was providing accommodation to the visiting delegations of teams and journalists etc.

As for the teams fans, the private sector was invited to cooperate and provide three and four-star hotels to host them.

Al-Sakr in early preparations to honor Yemen football in Asia Mr. Riyadh al-Horwi, al-Sakr club deputy chairman of board of directors confirmed that his club, as the champion of the national league and current holder of the Unity Cup, will start preparations for the Asian football federation championship as soon as it completes the President’s Cup. Work will be directed and supervised by its Egyptian coach Capt. Ibrahim Yousuf.

Al-Horwi said that the team intends to dignify Yemen by preparing well for the event in Yemen and outside.

National Yemen

11 REPORTAGE YT and Yemen Net, New Package through the Multi-Protocol Line Services

Eng. Amer Haza

Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

the mid of the last year as an official data transfer for new internet net on January 2010 , the YT launched the service for the use of private sector, businessmen , government sector , banks and IT companies to enable them to connect in between branches for data transfer, or connecting with the international network with a high speed of 50 MB. The General Manager concluded his speech saying that "the appearance of (IP/MPLS) exceeds all expectations for covering the need of high speed internet for the new generation of the main network (NGN) which is based on internet protocols which deals with all solutions within the network. The current network covers most of Yemen's governorates, and the rest will be covered by the current year. Eng. Amer Haza, General Manager of the 'internet and data transfer' department said that "the use of the IP/MPSL is very valuable and will significantly cut the expenditure costs, and will provide low costs and easy logistic connections, in addition to high network security and secure data transfer in between companies and branches. “The connection into a local network is a new feature which is called my network, or to international network” said Haza. The feature of such high transfer speeds is easier operating with the three parts of audio, video and data .

Dr. Ali Naji Nassari

Sana’a June 7th, 2010. The general telecom cooperation organized a symposium on the services of Yemen net (internet service provider in Yemen) through a network divided multi-protocol. More than 300 specialists from the government and private sectors participated in the symposium seeking new information about the services provided by the Yemen Telecom through the multiprotocol system. The MPLS is a comprehensive network which has the capability of operating with different networks, like transfer data, audio / video as well the flexibility of having local networks that may serve customers with different needs in a high security system.

The MPLS creates a secure group of users with the added capacity for development and expansion, and has no restriction on the speed.

Yemen net will provide a quality services for its importance wireless net, ymax and other services that cope with IT development, its rapid growth and its demand.

Dr. Ali Naji Nassari, General Manager of the general cooperation for telecom and non-telecom said that the symposium aims at introducing a new definition of the network and creating an active barter in between the Yemen Telecom Group and the government, and private sectors. “No mater who the beneficiary here is” said Nassir, the importance of the feedback and quality service for the users is the most important factor for developing the needs according to the market demand.

Yemen Telecom Group is operating through the general telecommunications cooperation taking the responsibility of investing in the project of MPLS with more than 8 million US Dollar for updating and developing the current network for a better use due to its wide spread through over the governorate of the Republic of Yemen. The solid infrastructure of the fiber –optic network covers 12 km in the land of Yemen.

Nassari, said that this project (MPLS) is established on the process of the national transformation network which will be the essential and main connector to all networks and services provided through (S net work) like the high network domain. He explains the features of the services in solving the technical problems that may occur with the current networks like: the high speed capacity; quality service management, and; data transfer.

Nassir said , "after signing the agreement of establishing the network on the early of 2009, which was used since

Sunday, June 13, 2010 www.nationalyemen.com

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