Panorama of 2007

Yemen in 2007 have passed through tough circumstances and events. It was the hardest year in the latest 2 decades not naming the 1994 year. Following the 2006 presidential and local councils elections during which the collation of the Yemeni opposition parties the joining meeting parties JMP had been severely defeated in both the presidential and local elections, they resorted to escalate the situations and organize several demonstrations and sit ins across the country along the year. However some of these activities were illegal and against the interests of the country particularly that some of the activities organized by the JMP turned to call for separating the south of Yemen. Also in the year 2007 a war broke out in Sada between the governmental forces and the followers of the Zaidi sheit leader the  so called al-Hothi.  Nevertheless Yemen jumped great leaps in the reforms process by enacting the law of fighting corruption and establishing the fighting corruption authority as well as by enacting the bids and tenders law and forming the tenders and bids body. By the end of the year 2007 Yemen lost one of its greatest politicians by the pass away of the speaker of the Parliament  Sheikh of Sheikhs of Yemen Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al-Ahmar on Dec 29, 2007.   Here are a flashback for the most important events during 2007. 

Dec 29
The Speaker of the Parliament, sheikh of sheikhs of Yemen Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar passed away in the King Fisal Bin Abdul Aziz hospital in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia this morning, at the age of 74.  His death was mourned by his eldest  son Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar and by all the al-Ahamr family members and his death was announced to the Yemeni people through the website of Sheikh Abdullah this morning.  

Dec 17, 2007  The ruling General People’s Congress revealed last Tuesday that they had opened a dialogue channel with the Yemeni opposition abroad, said head of the GPC’s political department, Abdullah Ahmad   Ghanem. He said that the dialogue with political leaders outside Yemen had been initiated within the framework proposed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh in his latest speech on the fortieth anniversary of November 30th Independence Day. Ghanem hoped that this call from the President would receive a full response from the opposition abroad, serving to develop Yemen and added that no response to the initiative did not indicate a crisis in the country.    

Dec 16, 2007 - The Yemeni government began on Saturday a nation-wide campaign to vaccinate more than 4 million children against polio. The door-to-door drive targets 4,171,379 children under five years of age in 2,528,688 houses all over the country. About 40,000 health workers will implement the campaign which runs for three days, December15-17.  It comes at a cost of  $2,700,000, funded by the Yemeni government with assistance from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 

Dec 11, 2007 - The panel at the International Anti-Corruption Day Conference  The National Supreme Anti-Corruption Authority (NSACA) revealed the idea of establishing a national alliance for integrity and combating corruption at a symposium organized on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day held last Sunday at the Movenpick Hotel. “The building of a broad national alliance for integrity is just the first step required by all of us and we will work to strengthen and build on it,” said Ahmed Mohammed al-Ansi, chairman of NSACA at the event.  

Dec 11 :The deadline for receiving the bid for the 4th round of biding on the oil marine blocks has been extended until January 5, 2008, announced Minister of Oil and Minerals Mr. Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah. The Minister of Oil and Minerals also indicated that 23 companies have submitted bids. 

Dec 8 Politics and economy are key areas in the continued cooperation between Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.   UAE will continue to support Yemen’s bid join the Gulf Cooperation Council and the rehabilitation of Yemen towards integration in the system, said the UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, stressing that the UAE’s primary support would be economic.  UAE announced its an increase in its support to Yemen by $150 million added to its previous support announced in London Donors confrence that was $ 500 million. The total support of UAE to Yemen with this increase is $650 million.  The Assistant Secretary-General of the Islah Party, Mohammed Al-Sa’adi, has threatened that the Joint Meeting Parties may boycott the forthcoming parliamentary elections if the ruling General People’s Congress party insists on the amending the electoral law to its own advantage  

Dec 10, 2007 - 11:08:52 PM 
Aden Container Terminal is expected to advance and improve its infrastructure.   The cabinet agreed last Tuesday in its weekly meeting to setting up a joint Yemeni - United Arab Emirates (UAE) company for the operation and development of an Aden container port with 50 percent share held by each, according to a memorandum of understanding which was signed November 27th in Dubai between Yemen and the International Dubai Seaport Company 

Dec 4, 2007  The Joint Meeting Parties in Taiz organized a sit-in last Saturday which coincided with the 40th  anniversary of November the 30th festival. The protesters demanded the return of prices to their pre-presidential election day rates; for the return of those forcibly deported from public office, both civilian and military, and called on the government to provide real jobs for the unemployed. They also demanded that the government stop offering amendments to electoral democracy which are empty of any content and provide no real change. 

Dec 2, 2007  Opposition and independent members of the Yemeni parliament rejected on Tuesday a proposal by the ruling party to amend the election law, saying it posed a threat to the “national compromise and political pluralism”.   The proposal is that the country’s electoral commission should consist of judges, rather than politicians from the major parties, as has been the case in the past. 

Dec 2, 2007 : The opposition living abroad can come back to Yemen and exercise their political rights through the existing parties, or can start establishing new parties of their own, said President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a speech last Thursday. The comments were made in Aden on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of November 30 Independence Day at the Stadium of May 22. in Aden. 

Nov 24  24 ministers  have handed over their financial disclosures to the National Supreme Anti-Corruption Authority has bringing the total number of top officials who have submitted their disclosures to 94. This number includes deputies, assistant deputies and general managers of all government bodies, who have complied with last October’s call from the NSACA, which was in accordance with the law approved by Parliament in July 2006. 

Nov 21 According to an official report, some 8,255 forcibly retired employees of the Yemeni Interior Ministry and security agencies have seen their situations improved. These retired employees have been re-employed with increased salaries, on the orders of the president. 

Nov 20 - The Joint Meeting Parties have rejected the decision of Parliament to give parties a week’s notice to form the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum, saying that illegal procedures had assigned the SCER secretary-general to the administration of the commission.  The JMP also confirmed their rejection of any decisions that the ruling party might take on their own, and stated that decisions of this sort would only serve to increase tensions in the country. 

Nov 18 : The Saudi-Yemeni Coordination Council signed memorandums of agreement in Riyadh Tuesday evening for four grants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Yemen amounting to $200 million towards projects in the health, energy and vocational education sectors.  

Nov 17 Yemen will start to export gas by the beginning of 2009, said officials of the Yemen Liquefied Natural Gas Project (YLNG), one of the largest investment projects in the country. The US$3.7 billion project is expected to produce US$2 billion a year for the Yemeni government. The project involves five experienced international shareholders as well as two public bodies: Total (39.62%), Hunt (17.22%), the Yemen Gas Company (16.73%), SK Corporation (9.55%), Kogas (6%), Hyundai (5.88%) and the General Social Security and Pensions Authority (5%). 

Nov 7 : Parliament has summoned the government for questioning, demanding them to carry out its recommendations or resign if it didn’t implement its recommendations concerning the 2005 budget.  During the Nov 7 session, many MPs suggested giving the government one month or two months to rectify financial irregularities put the perpetrators on trial, or face a vote of no confidence.  

Nov 13 The Criminal Court presided over by Judge Mohsen Alwan on Monday ruled against the 19-year-old American embassy attacker, Salim Saleh al-Ammari.  He was sentenced to five years imprisonment 

Nov 11 , Minister of Defense Mohammed Nasser Ahmed and Brigadier-General Ahmed Ali al-Ashwal, head of Military Staff, arrived in Shabwa to sooth tensions in the wake of an incident that happened in the area of al-Sylan during which an armed clash occurred between citizens from the tribe of Belhareth and a military battalion assigned to guard a Ukrainian oil company working in the Jana Valley area, The armed clashes resulted in the death of the head of the military battalion, Abdullah Alwan and his driver and 16 other soldiers and tribesmen. 

Nov 10 On Wednesday the Criminal Court of First Instance passed sentenced on 36 defendants accused of breaching peace and public order. Defendants 29-34 were convicted of carrying out explosions in the oil fields offshore al-Dhaba, al-Shihr district in Hadhramaut governorate. They were also convicted of setting off bombs at the gas refinery in Marib governorate. 

Nov 4  The Yemeni government has cancelled a $15 billion agreement between the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and American-based Powered Corporation for establishing five nuclear reactors in Yemen.  The decision comes as a result of an intervention from the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority asking Prime Minister Mujawar to cancel the contract. The SNACA called for the agreement to be cancelled after a request for documents regarding the deal was ignored by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Chairman of the investigation department at the SNACA, Ahmed al-Anesi expressed his surprise that the ministry had not provided all the documents regarding the deal. 

Nov 3: The General People’s Congress and the Joint Meeting Parties met in Aden on Sunday to resume dialogue on important issues affecting the nation. The meeting was attended by the Secretary General of the political parties and was conducted in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.   Assistant Secretary General of the GPC, Sheikh Sultan al-Barakani, confirmed that the GPC and the JMP reached an agreement to hold a meeting in Sana’a on Wednesday with the legal committee to seek advice on constitutional matters. Al-Barakani said the meeting would also look at the election law and discuss amendments suggested by the JMP. 

Nov 3: Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani has confessed to all mentioned charges made during the prosecution’s questioning last Wednesday headed by Judge Mohsen Aloan, head of the Specialized Penal Court. He requested the trial be postponed so he could prepare his defending argument. The case concerns his correspondence with the al-Houthi rebel group in Sa’ada.  Oct 27 : President Saleh met leaders of the Joint Meeting Parties and General People Congress today.   Sources at the GPC said that the aim of the meeting was to establish a dialogue between GPC and JMP. “It is only a meeting with the president and not an open dialogue session with GPC,” said Mohammed al-Sabri, spokesman of the JMP.   

Oct 27: Yemen’s security, stability, and unity are significant elements for serving regional stability, said US President George Bush in a letter delivered to President Saleh last Monday.   In the letter, Bush emphasized and renewed his country’s commitment to helping maintain security and unity in Yemen, as well as supporting progress in democracy and development. The letter also lauded Yemen’s successes in combating terrorism.   

Oct 28, 2007 : More than one security official at Aden Central Prison confirmed to the Yemen Observer that Jamal al-Badawi is in prison. The Yemen Observer’s Aden correspondent is on the ground attempting to gain access to the imprisoned al-Badawi for a brief statement  Oct 25 In its session last Sunday, the Parliament ordered the Committee of Security and Defense to meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Dr. Rashad al-Alaimi to discuss the procedures used for enforcing the ban on weapons in all capital cities due to alleged violations.   

Oct 23 The Yemeni government approved the second stage of a national strategy for wages and salaries, which will be implemented on October of the current year, according to law No. 23 of 2005, at a cost of about YR100 billion. The Cabinet has allocated 50 percent of the national strategy’s funds for the salaries of civil and military retirees. The Yemeni government has, for the second time, demanded the extradition of former minister of foreign affairs and presidential advisor, Abdullah al-Asnaj, from the Saudi Arabia.   Al-Asnaj emigrated from Yemen to Saudi Arabia during the 1983. In 1982, the Yemeni government charged him with supreme treason and sentenced him to death.   
Oct 8 : The Yemeni government faces a looming financial crisis due to the combined pressures of wage increases for public employees and of declining oil revenues, said Minister of Finance Numan al-Suhaibi during a consultative meeting of customs leaders last week. 

Oct 6: President Saleh refused opposition parties’ call for dialogue on reforming the electoral system, which he described as “a waste of time” last Tuesday.   In his meeting with leaders from the Hodeida Governorate, President Saleh said, “I have a program, and the green light I got from the people on September 20th last year enables me to continue to apply this program and not to waste time in dialogue and talking.”    

Oct 6: The active volcano on the Red Sea island, Jabal al-Tair, in the Hodieda Governorate erupted again last Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., said Chairman of the Public Authority of Geological Survey Ismail al-Janad.   The Yemenis who have been released from the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp should not be imprisoned in Yemen as no charges have been brought against them, said an official from Amnesty International this week.   “They should be released from prison and returned to their families because there is no reason for them to be detained,” Dr. Lamri Chirouf of AI told the Yemen Observer in an exclusive interview.  

Oct 2: The National Supreme Anti-Corruption Authority has handed financial disclosure forms to all ministers to declare their financial assets in accordance with the Financial Disclosure Law that was approved July 2006, said Dr. Bilqis Abu Usba, vice-chairman of the Authority. 

Sep 29: In his speech on the occasion of the celebrations of the 26th of September revolution President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on all political stakeholders in Yemen to join in dialogue and open discussion with the Government about the political reforms included in its electoral program. All parties accepted the invitation except for the JMP. 

Sep 24 President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered new constitutional amendments giving 15 percent of the seats in Parliament to women. This came in his meeting with party heads on MondayThe Islah Party used its domination of the Joint Meetings Party to refuse an invitation to participate in an open dialogue with president Ali Abdullah Saleh scheduled for Monday  

September 24 In the meeting president Saleh announced plans to amend the constitution, reducing the presidential term from seven years to five and reducing the terms of the Shura council and parliament from six to four years.  He also suggested that a parliamentary quota could be introduced, whereby women would be given 15 percent of parliamentary seats. 

Sep 19 About 56 Somali refugees have died so far this month crossing the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen, said United Nations High Commission for Refugees on Friday.  Many of them had been beaten, and some were reportedly doused with acid by the smugglers. 

Sep 18 The families of Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Mu’aid and his companion Mohammed Zayed and their supporters have asked the Yemeni Government to sign an extradition treaty with the United States as a means of ensuring the return of al-Mu’aid and Zayed. They are also calling for the immediate abolition of the treatment they have been enduring in the American prison where they are being held for allegedly supporting terrorist activity. 

Sep 11 Press freedom, education, health care, and supporting Yemen’s economy to alleviate poverty are the focal points of the United States Government’s work in Yemen, said the new US Ambassador Steven Seche in his first meeting with the Yemeni press.  

Sep 8: Citizens who chant or raise banners with slogans that oppose national unity  will be charged with treason, said the Supreme Security Committee.  “Any party, political organization, group, organization or individual chanting or repeating slogans hostile to national unity will be tried on charges of high treason according to the constitution and the law,” said an official statement issued by the SSC on Tuesday.  The SSC said that such acts are considered crimes punishable by law. During the demonstrations in Mukallah and Aden, 40 people were arrested and faces charges of treason for chanting secessionist slogans. 

Sep 4: Demonstrations over national price hikes in Mukallah on Saturday resulted on one death and five people injured because owners of shops were defending their properties against looters, said security sources in the city.  Security sources and witnesses claim the demonstrations started breaking billboards of advertisements, electric poles in streets and attacking tradesmen in their shops. They also blocked traffic, threw stones at security officers and set fires in main streets said security sources.  

Sep 1: Yemen has achieved some progress in economic and governance-related reforms, but there is a great need to enhance its institutions, said Mustapha Rouis, World Bank country manager, last Wednesday at Sana’a University.  

August 29 Security authorities are taking strict precautions to protect official banks and financial companies in Yemen, in the wake of warnings that Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups could attack them in the next couple of weeks, said Deputy Minister of the Interior Mohammed al-Qawsi. 

Aug 26 :A ban on the carrying of all arms in governorate capitals, including Sana’a, was announced Thursday by Mohammed al-Qusi, Deputy Minister of the Interior.  

Aug 21:  The National Solidarity Council, a group of 763 sheikhs and other leaders who got together to create unity among tribes, would not be necessary if not for the failures of the government and the weakness of the opposition, said Sheikh Hussien Abdullah al-Ahmar, chairman of the NSC, in a press conference held Sunday at Haddah Hotel.  

Aug 19: The Al Houthi rebels in the north of Yemen have accepted an implementation plan for a Qatari-brokered deal designed to end the uprising, a member of the committee overseeing the agreement said late Monday.  But while Abdul-Razaq al-Hajri, a member of the presidential commission confirmed that the committee had indeed received a reply from the rebels about the implementation timetable, he declined to confirm that the rebels had agreed to the timetable.  The rebels had given their “preliminary agreement to the timetable,” as had local authorities in northwest Sa’adah province, which is the site of the recent rebellion by the minority Zaidi community, the anonymous committee member said to Agence France Presse.   

Aug 18: Peaceful sit-ins were organized on Wednesday, August 15, by people in Taiz, al-Dhal’a, and Sana’a governorates, in order to protest the price increases of many goods, and to ask the government to provide its people with clean water and better incomes.     The Taiz sit-in was conducted by the Joint Meeting Parties and thousands of their supporters participated, in to demand a decrease in prices, the creation effective solutions for the water shortage crisis in Taiz, and improvement of income and employment levels. 

Aug 18: Nine Eritreans have fled their country for Yemen, in the hopes of receiving asylum, said the Alkarama Association for Human Rights, based in Geneva. They are begging President Ali Abdullah Saleh to grant them refugee status. The nine Eritreans, seven Muslims and two Christians, arrived in Yemen on July, 17, running away from their government.  “They have been rejected by Saudi Arabia, and then they turned to Yemen,” said Abdul-Wahab al-Humaiqani, the head of Alkarama in Yemen.   

Aug 15: Security officials in Abayan on Monday morning arrested several members of Al Qaeda who were allegedly involved in the July 2 bomb attack in Mareb that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemeni drivers, said a statement from the Ministry of the Interior. 

Aug 14: Presidential orders have been issued to resolve the situation of the retired officers who have been demonstrating in the southern cities of Yemen. Many military retirees have been protesting in Aden recently to get their jobs back.  Aug 13 A group of local sheikhs and dignitaries headed by Sheikh Naji bin Abdul-Aziz al-Shaif has rejected the National Solidarity Council formed last fortnight by an equivalent tribal group of sheikhs. Sheikh al-Shaif, head of the Bakeel tribe, introduced himself as the Sheikh of all Sheiks of Yemen, a title disputed by the Parliament Speaker Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, who is the head of Hashid tribe.  

Aug 11 Talks between the government and the al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country remain stalled, as the committee appointed by the president to negotiate with the rebels is still waiting for them to agree on certain aspects of the peace agreement, said MP Aidarous Nasser, a member of the Presidential Commission charged with overseeing the implementation of the agreement to end the rift in Sa’ada.   President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the general prosecutor to stop the execution of Hafez Ibrahim, a child convicted of murder, in Taiz on Wednesday, August 8. Saleh’s order came in response to appeals from concerned international and local human rights officials. 

Aug 7 : Former Prime Minister, Dr. Faraj Ben Ghanim, died on Sunday in Geneva. He was 65 years old. Ben Ghanim was admitted to a Swiss hospital about one week before his death, because he was having unspecified health problems. Ben Ghanim was born on December 1, 1937 in al-Shehr city in Hadhramout governorate.  

Aug 6: President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered the release of nearly all of the people who were arrested at a violent protest in Aden on Thursday. However, he refused to release members of a group who issued a statement calling for the re-dividing of Yemen. 

Aug 6 The new council formed to promote national solidarity has actually provoked divisiveness among the Yemeni tribes. The Council on National Solidarity was formed last week by about 1,000 sheikhs in order to encourage unity among the tribes of Yemen. But now many sheikhs are rejecting the Council.  

Aug 4: A new draft resolution that changes the elections law was approved by the government last Tuesday. But the Joint Meeting Parties has objected to the draft. The new resolution would change the makeup of the Supreme Elections Committee so that it would be made up entirely of judges—nine of them. Now, it consists of a variety of politicians and independent people. 

Aug 4: Yemen and the UK signed on Wednesday a 10-year development partnership agreement. It is the first long-term agreement the UK has signed in the Middle East, and only the seventh it has signed globally.  The agreement was signed by Malik and the Prime Minister Ali bin Mujawar. The signing was attended also by Deputy PM and minister of Planning and International Development, Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi, and British Ambassador Tim Torlot. 

July 31 Women journalists gathered Sunday in front of Parliament to protest the blocking of the news service of Women Journalists Without Chains, Bilakyood Mobile, claiming that the government is discriminating against women. The Parliament decided to release all the SMS news services, including those of al-Sahwa Mobile and Nass Mobile.  

July 30 : A new council of sheikhs from tribes all across Yemen has been formed in order to further national unity.The Council National Solidarity was formed last Sunday, July 29, in Sana’a. It contains around 1,000 VIPs from tribes all around Yemen, as well as some Parliament and Shoura Council members.  

July 26: The Parliament finally approved the new Bids, Tenders and Storages Law in its Tuesday session this week. It also approved the establishment of a supreme independent authority to monitor bids, enhance transparency, and fight corruption. The discussion of the bid law was headed by Vice-President of the Parliament Dr.Jafer Saeed Saleh. 

July 24: The Parliament on Sunday refused to take responsibility for selecting members for the new National Authority for Monitoring Bids and Tenders from a group of names submitted to Parliament by the Shura council. The committees of services and finance in the Parliament had asked the Parliament to nominate members of the new committee, in accordance with the government’s draft law for bids, tenders and government stores.  

July 21 In its weekly meeting on Monday, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Authority worked on crafting the final financial disclosure forms for Authority members to fill out, and discussed the organizational steps it needs to take for its work, headed by the Mohammed Ahmed al-Ansi, Members stressed the necessity of setting down clear criteria to guarantee good, transparent governance and high performance in its work.  

July 18: A Spanish woman injured in the July 2 terrorist bombing in Marib has died from injuries suffered, said doctors. Maria Vitorica, 50, died late Saturday, two days after she was declared brain dead, said Dr. Ahmed al-Ansi, director general of al-Thawra Hospital in Sana’a.  

Jul 14, 2007: More efforts must be exerted to avert new confrontations with the rebels in the northern province of Sa’ada, after mediators reached a deadlock with the rebels, said President Ali Abdullah Saleh Thursday. Saleh’s statements came after the nine-member. 

July 10: A member of Al Qaeda said today that his organization was not behind the suicide bombing that killed seven Spaniards and two Yemenis last week in Marib, in eastern Yemen. But he said a “new generation” of Al Qaeda might have been behind it.  

July 9 Thousands of retired military and security officers gathered at an angry demonstration in Aden on Saturday to demand their right to return to work, and to be paid their wages for the last several years. These men were forced to retire after the 1994 civil war, often for political reasons. Earlier in the week, President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the return to work of 637 officers, and the promotion of 493 officers.  

July 7: Yemeni authorities have arrested nine men who are believed to have been involved in the attack in Marib last Monday, an incident that left nine people dead and seven injured near the Balqis Temple, said security sources. Security forces shot dead one man, 50, of Egypt, in one of the neighborhoods of Sana’a city... 

July 4: At least nine people, including at least six foreign tourists, were killed in Yemen’s Mareb governorate Monday after a suicide bomber drove his car into a tourist site, eyewitnesses and official sources said. At least seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis were killed, and seven other tourists, mostly Spanish, were injured in the suicide bombing, which targeted the temple of Queen Bilquis, Queen of Sheba, in Mareb, the Ministry of Interior said.  The Ministry of Interior said that the terrorist group Al Qaeda was behind the suicide bombing. 

June 30: An 11-member anti-corruption authority has finally been formed by the Parliament. Members of the authority were elected by members of the Parliament. This authority will be responsible for monitoring all government bodies for corruption, and for sending people suspected of corruption to court when necessary.  

June 30: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French officials expressed enthusiasm about assisting Yemen with the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes, such as electricity generation, this week.  President Ali Abdullah Saleh is currently in France to meet with Sarkozy.  President Saleh said that he welcomes French companies to invest in Yemen in the field of electricity generation, through nuclear energy, gas or with the BOT system, a uranium enrichment program.  The energy produced will be used to provide electricity, desalinate water, and help in other industrial fields, in the framework of the existing partnership between Yemen and France in development and democracy in Yemen.  French sources said that the two presidents, Saleh and Sarkozy, have spoken about a Yemeni deal for the purchasing of aircrafts that Yemenia Airways announced at the beginning of last year, with the cost of $972 million. The spokesman in the Elysee Palace said that the French President and the Yemeni president spoke about cooperation in the field of aviation and Yemen’s purchase of airplanes from Airbus.  

June 29 : Al-Houthi rebels have come down from the mountains of northern Yemen to put down their weapons and return home, as instructed by a Qatari-brokered agreement to end the five-month war between them and the government troops, said mediators Thursday. 

June 23: The Cabinet made two significant decisions during its Tuesday meeting intended to dramatically improve Yemen’s investment climate. First, it approved an amendment to an article of the Trade Law of 1991, in order to allow non-Yemenis to practice trade without the partnerships of Yemenis. Previously, companies in Yemen had to have a majority Yemeni ownership.  

June 23 As many as 17 people died as a result of a heat wave in Aden this week, said doctors at al-Jumhouri Hospital in Khor Maksr in Aden. Reports of the number of dead are conflicting. Officials at the hospital, who refused to release their names, said that the number of deaths may be as high as 24, as of Thursday morning.  

June 20 Yemen has received four more of its citizens who were detained in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, bringing the total number of Yemeni men released thus far to 12, security sources said Wednesday.The security sources confirmed the arrival of the four Yemenis in the capital of Sana’a late Tuesday, June 19th, 2007.  

June 19: The secretaries-general of the political parties represented in the Yemeni Parliament signed on Saturday a document outlining the topics to be covered in their continuing political dialogue.The parties agreed to discuss constitutional reforms; the transformation of the Parliament system into a two-rooms system, and the development of a system to elect local authorities. 

June 19: A Yemeni political Parliamentary committee arrived Monday in the war-stricken province of Sa’ada, in the north of the country, to supervise the implementation of a Qatari-brokered pact to end the armed rebellion that erupted there earlier this year, sources familiar with the committee said. The nine-member committee included the five chairmen of the Parliamentary blocks of the ruling and opposition parties...  

June 16: In an unprecedented step, the local authority appointed late this week three new executive officials, after ousting their predecessors on corruption charges in Dhamar governorate, 100 kilometers south of the capital of Sana’a. Director General of Taxes Hussein Ali al-Ameer, Director General of Public Health and Population Fadhl Mohammed al-Akwa’a, and Director General of Electricity Ahmed Sailan were sacked from their jobs, in a step that comes as part of the implementation of the program of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to combat corruption, according the local council officials.     

June 13 : The government will stop blocking political websites, said Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar on Sunday after he met with Nasser Taha Mustafa, the head of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, Thabit Saeed Thabit, first deputy of the YJS, and other members of the YJS. 

June 12 : Yemen has imposed a ban on Egyptian boats working in its territorial waters, after a Yemeni coastguard was killed by Egyptian fishermen off the south-western Yemeni Red Sea town of Midi on

April 19. The Egyptian boat attacked a boat belonging to the Yemeni Coast Guard, which was combing Yemeni territorial waters near Baklan Island off the coast of the Hajja governorate. Yemen has asked Egypt to hand over the fishermen involved in the attack against the Yemeni coastguard ship, an attack that left one Yemeni coastguard dead and another injured. 

June 12 :A Cabinet member has accused the opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties of supporting terrorists in Sa’ada governorate, said Mohammed Taher, the managing editor of the General People’s Congress website, alMotamar.net. The JMP is trying to stymie the state’s efforts to confront those acts that target the security and stability of the nation, having no other goal than to further bloodshed, said the Cabinet member, who refused to release his name. The JMP has categorically denied the charges.  

June 9 : Charges against a Yemeni detainee who is held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba were dropped this week, said lawyers. Samlim Hamdan, a Yemeni, and Canadian detainee Amar Khadr were charged with war crimes, and with being enemy combatants. But all of these charges have been dismissed.  “I cried out of happiness,” said Amat al-Sabour al-Qal’ah, 26, Hamdan’s wife, in reaction to the dropping of the charges against her husband by the military judge. “The decisions did not turn on the guilt or innocence of the detainees, but rather made essentially the same determination that the military had not followed procedures to declare the detainees ‘unlawful enemy combatants’, which is required for the military commission to hear the cases,” said The New York Times.  

June 3 : A short-wave radio broadcast has been broadcasting illegally in Sana’a by hijacking the 88.3 FM frequency. The broadcast delivers a Christian missionary message in the Arabic language without having any license or permission from the responsible authorities such as the Ministry of Information, says Abbas al-Dailami the head of Sana’a Radio.  

June 2 : The Joint Meetings Party has suspended dialogue with the ruling General People’s Party, as a result of the government’s recent blocking of certain websites and SMS news services, said a source within the JMP. 

June 2 :A huge explosion heard in Sana’a last Thursday that sent up billows of brown smoke into the sky was revealed to be an explosion at an armory in the Jebel Nugum area. “The armory was full of armored vehicles and munitions, and it exploded because of a it caught fire,” said Mohammed al-Qawasi, the deputy of the Ministry of Interior.  

May 29 : Yemeni security forces seized large quantities of weapons and explosives from two large trucks in Sana’a last Saturday, said an official source from the Ministry of the Interior who asked that his name be withheld. The weapons may have been heading to the war in Sa’ada, said the source.  

May 26 : The Popular Forces Union Party and the Yemeni Socialist Party, both opposition parties, are at risk of being dissolved, legal sources at the Committee for Parties and Political Organizations, a government body that approves the establishment of new political parties told the website of the General People’s Congress. 

May 22 : In his speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the reunification of Yemen and national day president Saleh called on all citizens for further cohesion and national consolidation for the enhancement of the national unity and combating all forms of separation and extremism, stirring malice, malevolence and hatred among citizens.. He also urged Yemenis to focus on the positive progress the country has made, and not on the negative things. Saleh congratulated the country on its successful elections last September. The elections “were held in a competitive, free and honest way, recognized and praised by everyone inside and outside Yemen,” he said.He also praised the progress of development across the country. 

May 22 : Libya condemns the terrorist acts of the al-Houthi rebels operating out of Sa’ada governorate in the north of Yemen, Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi told President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a letter received on Saturday. The letter was handed over by Libyan Leader Special Envoy and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Suleiman al-Shuhumi.  

May 20 : Two Al-Qaeda members who escaped from the Political Security Prison in Sana’a in February 2006 have turned themselves in to security authorities. According to security sources, the two men surrendered after several months of negotiation between the security authorities and the men, through the tribal leaders of the tribes to which the two men belong. 

May 19 :The government must continue to fight the rebels in Sa’ada if they do not surrender, said Yemeni religious scholars Thursday, at the end of a conference to come up with solutions to the four-month armed conflict between the government and Shiite rebels in the north.   

May 16  Yemen’s government has decided to summon its ambassadors home from Libya and Iran, for consultations about those countries’ possible interference in Yemen’s war with the al-Houthi rebels in the north, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Abu Baker al-Qirbi Saturday.  

May 14 : The prices of basic foods and essential materials have risen dramatically once more, striking fear in the hearts of many consumers, who are afraid that they will no longer be able to afford to feed themselves properly. In an attempt to respond to the uncurtailed rise in prices, Cabinet ministers last week endorsed a number of new decisions.  Last Monday, the Cabinet ministers held a meeting with the Yemeni chambers of commerce and with the importers of wheat, flour, sugar, and other essential materials. Participants discussed how to stabilize prices, and decided to form a committee to monitor prices, particularly of food items, in the various governorates.  Minister of Industry and Trade, Yahya al-Mutwakel, said that a new bylaw will require tradesmen and shopkeepers to print prices on all commodities. This bylaw is to be implemented from May 15, 2007. 

May 12: The constitution will soon be amended so that the people of Yemen will be able to directly elect the governors of the various governorates, said President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Currently, the governors are selected by Saleh.  The president said that he doesn’t want the ministries to be the executive managers of the country, but to focus on planning and following-up on the progress of the plans.  The executive management of the country would then be carried out by the governors.   

May 12 : The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, paid a brief visit to Sana’a this week for talk with President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The two leaders discussed the relationship between the two countries, according to the official statement issued after the visit.  

May 8:  Two Yemenis were sentenced on Sunday to 12 years in prison for kidnapping French tourists last year in Shabwah, in the eastern region of the country. Judge Najeeb al-Qaderi of the State Security Court handed down 12-year prison terms to both Ahmed Haidrah Salfoh and Rajjeh Mohammed Ahmed Hadi, after they were convicted of kidnapping the tourists. The trial started last October, when the prosecutor accused Salfoh, 19, and Hadi, 23, of kidnapping four French tourists and their Yemeni translator on September 9, 2006, in Shabwah, and held them in Hadi’s house for 15 days. 

May 8  The work of the second conference of the Association of the Senates, an organization made up of the senates of 20 countries, begins today. The senates or similar councils come from Arab and African countries.  These councils, including the Yemeni Shura council, are meeting to form a committee that will focus on the issues of security and peace in Africa and the Arab world. It will increase the contributions to regional and international efforts to contain the conflicts and spread peace in these two areas, Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani, the head of the Shura council. This conference will also discuss the diplomatic parliamentary role for the members’ councils in the association. 

May 2 : Yemen and the United States of America pledged to continue cooperation in the global fight against terrorism and bringing “radicals and murderers” to justice. President George W. Bush confirmed the United States’ interest in enhancing its partnership and cooperation with Yemen during a briefing with President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Oval Office last Wednesday.  

May 1 : Teachers unions are planning to file a lawsuit against the Cabinet Ministers to regain their bonus withheld from them for the past 14 months, according to the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate. Since the validity of the salaries law in July, 2005 until August 2006 the Cabinet decided to stop supplying teachers with their approved bonuses, said Ahmed al-Rabahi, general secretary of the Yemeni Teachers’ Syndicate.  

April 11  Elections of the members of the new Supreme Commission for Anti-Corruption have been postponed, because Parliament members want time to learn about the background of the proposed members.  

April 10  In a surprising turnabout, the Yemeni Parliament has voted against the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, retracting a majority vote for it on March 24. The step has sparked heated controversy and shock among supporters and non-supporters in and outside the Parliament.  The 83 members (out of the 133 members who attended the Saturday’s session) who voted against the ICC said it was contradicting the constitution and Islamic Sharia, and the remaining 50 voted for the court, saying it was in complete harmony with the constitution and Sharia.  

On March 24, the Statute of ICC was voted for with majority from all parties.  On Sunday, the Secretary General of the ruling General People’s Congress, Abdul Wader Bahamas, criticized the Parliamentary block of his party for voting against ICC agreement denying any interference from President Ali Abdullah Saleh.  After the vote there was a rumor that the overwhelming majority of the ruling party had received instructions from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cancel their previous vote for the agreement. 

April 7   The Yemeni Jews of Al Salem celebrated  Passover in Sana’a this week at Tourist City.    The nine families, including 55 people, have now been living in Sana’a’s Tourist City since the end of February.  Their Passover celebration started last Monday, and it will last for eight days. Passover is the commemoration of the exodus of Israelites from Egypt, and their freedom from slavery to the Pharaoh. The word Passover comes from the so-called night of the Tenth Plague, when the Angel of Death “passed over” the houses of Israel, and did not kill anyone.  

April 5 A new government was formed chaired by Dr. Ali Mohammed Mujawar as a prime minister. The new government included  A total of 11 new faces came to the new government, while 17 ministers have retained their posts, including the interior, exterior, defence, information and oil ministers.    The new Cabinet has two women ministers: Dr. Huda Ali al-ban, the new Minister of Human Rights, and Dr. Amat al-Razaq Humad, who has retained her post as the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.   No merger of ministries or creation of new ministries has taken place in this government. The Ministry of Expatriates, however, was separated from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

March 28  A riot broke out among 1,000 or so workers of the Yemeni LNG Company working in Balhalf at around 2 p.m. on Sunday, following a dispute between a French worker and a Yemeni worker.  

March 28  The General People’s Congress and the opposition parties have at last agreed to sit down together and draw up an agenda for political dialogue.  

March 27  Over the last several days, Yemen has received more than 1,100 Somalis and Ethiopians, who arrived on smuggling boats from Bosaso, Somalia, after crossing the Gulf of Aden, said Ron Redmond, UNHCR spokesperson, at the press briefing March 23 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.  

March 20  The war between the government and the al-Houthi rebels in the northern province of Sa’ada must be stopped, said a group of politicians, lawyers, journalists, and members of nongovernmental organizations that gathered to protest the war Sunday.  

March 20  The al-Haq political party has been abolished by order of the Political Parties Affairs Committee, at the request of party members themselves.  Scholar Ahmed Mohammed al-Shami, the Former Secretary-General of al-Haq Party, said that the decision to abolish the party was with the consent of the remaining founding members of the party, after the withdrawal of most of the parties’ members.  

March 17  U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar, a federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, has found Sudan responsible for triggering the terrorist attack on the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen’s port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000.  

March 14  Khaled Misha’al, the president of the political office of the Hamas movement, praised President Ali Abdullah Saleh for his encouragement of the Mecca agreement between the Hamas and Fatah movements in a meeting with Saleh on Sunday.  

March 13  The US State Department’s annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Yemen for 2006, issued on March 6, found fewer human rights abuses than in previous years. It also reported much progress in the creation of democratic processes and fighting corruption. 

March 11  The army has been launching fierce artillery and missile attacks on areas where remnants of the al-Houthi followers still take refuge, to bring the rebellion crisis to an end as soon as possible.  

March 10  Women took unprecedented steps toward equality with men last Tuesday, when the Cabinet Ministers approved the amendment of 24 laws that concern women, so as to cancel all of the laws that discriminated against them.  The most important of these amendments was one to the law that regulates the legal age of marriage for girls.  

March 6  The Yemeni Jews of al-Salem celebrated Purim far from their homes last Sunday, in Sana’a’s Tourist City.  The group of 45 Jews was forced to flee their homes in the northern province of Sada’a in January, after they received a letter threatening their lives. 

March 6  As battles get tougher in the northern province of Sa’ada, the Yemen government says it has information confirming that the rebels have been receiving external support to divide Yemen into sectarian entities. “We have information from those who were detained that there was external support for the rebellion, which aims at pulling Yemen into sectarian conflict by dividing it into sectarian entities,” said Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Yemen’s foreign minister.   Rumors point fingers at Libya and Iran, suggesting those two countries support the al-Houthi rebels, but both countries deny the accusations as untrue and baseless. Yemeni-Libyan relations have grown tense, in the wake of Yemeni accusations that Libya has been supporting   the armed rebellion in Sa’ada in northern Yemen.    

March 6  A Yemeni state security court began on Sunday the trial of 36 men charged with planning bomb attacks against oil facilities and hotels frequented by foreigners, according to DPA, the German news agency.  Thirty defendants were present at the courtroom, and six others were being tried in absentia.   The men were charged with “taking part in forming an armed band to carry out sabotage and criminal acts and to attack foreigners living in Yemen.”  Prosecutors told the court the men had prepared explosives, firearms, vehicles, and masks, to use them in the attacks.  Only two of the attacks, allegedly planned by the group, took place, when four suicide attackers drove four cars loaded with explosives into two oil facilities in eastern Yemen last September.   

March 3  In its 4th congress held earlier this week, Yemen’s main opposition Islamist party, Islah, has disappointed those who saw it as a strong leader for an effective opposition coalition, by keeping the Shiekh Abdullah al-Ahmar as a president for the fourth time since it was established in 1990.  In spite of the fact that al-Ahmar did not attend the congress for unknown  reasons, he was chosen by recommendations as a president of Islah’s supreme council for a fourth term contravening the internal bylaw of the party, which bans re-electing leaders after three terms. The party’s veterans said there was a compelling need to violate the bylaw in order to re-elect al-Ahmar as a president, arguing that this move was in the best interest of the party and the opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties alike. 

March 3  The forty-five Yemeni Jews who fled their homes ahead of the uprising in Sa’ada are now in living at the “Tourist City” in Sana’a. they left their homes in Sa’ada on the 20th of January after receiving death threats by the insurgents affiliated to Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. The 45-person strong Jewish minority moved into a hotel in Sa’ada City, under the patronage and protection of a local sheikh.  The Jews moved to Sana’a’s Tourist City Sana’a last Sunday, due to the violent conflict between the Houthi rebels and the government.  The Jews received a handwritten letter from the so-called Yahya Khuthair, in which he demanded that they leave their homes in Ghareer village in Sa’ada or they would be killed, said 70-year old Suleiman Mosa Salem Marhabi. Khuthair, who is one of the al-Houthi insurgents and a member of the “Believers Youth,” sent this message to all the houses of the Jewish community in the village, he said.  

Feb 28  The Chamber of Commerce and Industry, represented by the Private Sector Committee for Investment Facility is striking today, Tuesday Jan. 27, calling for comprehensive strikes around the country.  The traders and merchants are striking and closing their stores to protest against the application of the government’s new sales tax law, even though at present it is still pending approval from the Constitutional Unit as well as an appointment to meet President Ali Abdullah Saleh.   

Feb 27  President Ali Abdullah Saleh has called upon the international community to hold an international conference aimed at helping to rebuild Somalia.  

Feb 27  The Islah party elected Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein al-Ahmar for the fourth time to be chairman of the party at its fourth general conference, held in Sana’a on February 24. The members of the conference re-elected sheikh al-Ahmar in violation of the party’s bylaw that prohibits any member from holding an executive position for more than three terms.

Feb 27  Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, commenced an official visit to Yemen today. His visit aims at improving and consolidating bilateral cooperation in trade, tourism and education. 

Feb 24   Traffic in Sana’a was slower than usual this week as security forces swept the city.   A large number of the rebels in northern Yemen have surrendered to the government, said a local official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity. Some of the rebels have surrendered directly to the military forces and some others through sheikhs and dignitaries of Sa’ada, he said.   Moreover, some security sources from Sa’ada said that 35 saboteurs have been arrested in the past few days, and that they have confessed that some foreign countries are involved in the conflict, either by presenting support to the rebels or by triggering the ordeal. 

Feb 22     Hundreds of teachers sacked as part of reform agenda The educational bureau of the capital secretariat sacked 412 teachers this week, said Mohammed Abdullah al-Fadhli, the bureau’s general director. The teachers were discharged after it was proved that they had not been working for almost six months, which is the period required for legally sacking an employee for absenteeism.  Feb 20 President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered the security and military forces to end the rebellion in Sa’ada as soon as possible. “They should take their responsibilities by taking the necessary actions to put an end to the crisis led by the terrorists under the leadership of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi,” said president Saleh .  

Feb 19  Ethiopian President Girma Wolde Giorgis recently departed Sana’a after final discussions Saturday with Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi about the upcoming meeting of the Sana’a Assembly in Addis Ababa, as well as other topics.  

Feb 19 The Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors today reinstated the eligibility of the Republic of Yemen for participation in MCC’s Threshold Program. The Threshold Program is designed to assist countries that are on the “threshold,” meaning they have not yet qualified for larger Compact grants, but have demonstrated a significant commitment to improve their performance on the eligibility criteria.   

Feb 13  The Yemeni army has launched a massive attack against the rebels in the northern governorate of Sa’ada, according to the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.  

Feb 8  Nearly 1,000 Iraqis and Yemenis gathered together on Wednesday, the 40th day after Saddam Hussein was executed, to mourn him. Hussein’s daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, spoke in praise of the relationship between her father and President Ali Abdullah Saleh, expressing thanks and gratitude to Yemen, Libya and Qatar for their positions towards Iraq. 

Feb 6 Tribal sheikhs, religious scholars and social figures led an anti-war demonstration Monday in Sa’ada, where at least 42 Yemenis have been killed and 81 injured in recent clashes between Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s armed militia and government troops.   

Feb 6  The trial of two men accused of smuggling weapons to Somalia began on Monday. The court, chaired by Judge Najeeb al-Qadiri, heard the prosecution’s claims against Abdullah Awadh al-Masri, 37, of Yemen and Abdi Uthman Soli, 27, a Danish man of Somali origin.  

Feb 3  A total of eight Yemenis were killed and 11 injured in new clashes that erupted Wednesday between government troops and armed groups accused of rebellion in Sa’ada province, in the north of the country.   

January 30  President Ali Abdullah Saleh has called on the armed supporters of Shiite rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi to surrender their weapons immediately.  

January 27 The government last Tuesday instructed all merchants to reduce the prices of all of their goods to the prices they were prior to Dec. 15, 2006. To reinforce this order, the government has also issued a number of other decisions in order to improve the monitoring of prices and keep them low.   

Jan 23  The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has begun the trial of seven Yemeni nationals accused of supporting terrorist activities associated with Al-Qaeda. The seven men are accused of carrying out a bomb attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 12, 2003. 

Jan 23 The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has begun the trial of seven Yemeni nationals accused of supporting terrorist activities associated with Al-Qaeda. The seven men are accused of carrying out a bomb attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 12, 2003. 

Jan 22 A group of Yemeni Jews who were threatened earlier this week by extremists, said Monday they were still being threatened, and appealed to the government for protection.  

Jan 16  The Yemen Ministry of Information turned down 60 license applications for new newspapers and magazines during 2006, in a bid to limit freedom of press, said a local independent report.   

Jan 13  After Eid al-Adha, the Yemeni market witnessed sudden and unjustified rise in prices of foodstuffs—prices increased as much as 100 percent for some goods, such as eggs, dairy products and fruits. Eggs, for example, were YR150 for 10 eggs a few weeks ago, but now those same 10 eggs cost YR300. Frequent recent rises in prices have made people very angry.  

Jan 10  Local official, partisan, and independent media are whipping themselves into a frenzy trying to predict the new government, expected to be disclosed tonight. Officials in the ruling party are contributing to the heat by revealing various possible names of the new prime minister and his cabinet members.  

Jan 9 Yemen refrained to react to the Iraqi and Kuwait repetitive official and media attacks over the country’s attitude to the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

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