Letters to the Editor [Archives:2001/31/Letters to the Editor]

Dear Editor
I would like to thank you for the special care you give to your readers by having their letters published. I am a Sudanese teacher in Yemen and as a new comer to my second home Yemen, I have been told by my senior colleagues that they feel concerned about their future, especially after working for so many years in Yemen. Some of them have very large families. Some of them have children enrolled in various educational levels ranging from basic up to university. They are concerned because the majority of them lost their jobs in their native homelands but have hope in continuing their work in Yemen by making contracts for another time. This concern about their situation regarding jobs is repeated annually. Hence, they request from whoever is concerned to reconsider the ones who fail to renew their contracts so as to enable them to work here for several more years. They are also asking whether they will be given allowances and be treated as their Yemeni colleagues after being retired. There are many questions that jump to my mind concerning my colleagues. What will their fate be if their contracts are not renewed? How will they live a decent life in Yemen, and how will they be able to have their children continue their education in their homelands? How will they be able to get a job in their countries that is suitable for their age and health conditions. I am looking forward along with them to hearing from the ones concerned and from the dear readers.
Ustaz /Musa Hamid Mohammed
Sudanese Educational Mission
P.O. Box 87206
Dhamar pro.
Dear editor,
It is my pleasure to send you this letter in which I would like to express my great appreciation for your good efforts towards developing and improving the role and appearance of this news paper which is considered a valuable inheritance of its first founder professor Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf. Dr. Saqqaf dedicated all his life in order to establish this English-language newspaper and tried hard to increase its circulation either inside or outside Yemen. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles that he confronted, his strong will and wise acts enabled him to be strongly rooted and solidified into perpetual existence in Yemen and all around the world.
As a matter of fact, professor Al-Saqqaf was one of those rare Yemeni natives who scarified their lives for the progress and prosperity of the Yemeni people and Yemen in general. As for the late professor Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, he had dedicated himself in order to found a remarkable and honorable site for Yemen in the world map through the establishment of Yemen Times as a newspaper In English language to be the Yemeni ambassador to the rest of the world. It was very difficult for foreigners to know the facts of what is happening in Yemen due to the lack of any English-language newspaper in English before 1991.
Apart from his basic profession as an economic lecturer at Sana’a university, he was the first man who forecasted the future of Yemen and realized its need for an English-language newspaper in order to facilitate the transformation of the Yemeni news, cultures and traditions to the living foreigners inside and outside the country.
It is worth mentioning that professor Al-Saqqaf founded the Yemen Times just after few months of the reunification of Yemen. He did that without any help or financial assistance form any government authority depending on his own and special efforts and financial prospects required for the establishment of this great project which is considered a historic achievement for all the Yemeni people.
The Yemen Times, which started as a simple newspaper using old and simple machines in a small flat, is today a complete press corporation as a result of the continuos efforts of the present editor in chief Mr. Walid Al-Saqqaf after the demise of his father professor Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf.
Now we can feel proud to see the Yemen Times in its new position especially after it had its Website developed making it available for readers all around the world.
We hope the Yemen Times the best of of success and progress towards a better future asking the almighty of Allah to rest the soul of professor Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf in his widest heavens. Wishing this letter to be published in his newspaper as recognition of his best efforts and a testimony for a man worked for the benefit of his country.
Abdullah Ali Kabe’a
Sana’a University
Can the Success of Saba News Agency be Transferred to the Ministry of Information?
I was not very optimistic about the last governmental amendments, which as their descendants, are merely extensions and a kind of decoration. But when I came to know that Mr.Hussein Al-awadhi was one of its ministers, particularly Ministry of Information, which is among the most complicated and hard to manage ministries, I was felt optimistic again hoping that he could lead the ministry to great successes.
Saba News Agency (SNA) is a story of success that nobody can deny. A lot of essential reforms were made to every department in the agency and many new departments were formed in a modernization movement. SNA was transformed from a dull organization used for prefixing news items to a strong and efficient news agency with several qualified correspondents. I would like to put forward some question and inquires to Al-Awadhi’s desk: Can Al-Awadhi transfer the great success of SNA to the Ministry of Information by eliminating corruption and bringing about an efficient ministry that everyone could be proud of?
Abdusslam Assudi
Al-Thawra Newspaper

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