A project of reconciliation and cooperation [Archives:2004/745/Opinion]

By Ali Abdo Raboh Al-Qadhy
Member of Parliament
For the Yemen Times
The Republic of Yemen, after it had suffered from the problems of the partitioning of the country, encountered several political changes and conflicts for survival, and the obsession, by one party or another power in the country, leading to hatred and creating problems. The conflicts on private and public properties have led to having a lot of grudges, hatred and armed conflicts between groups. Any visitor of a court, public prosecution or police station, will be embarrassed of the scenes of disputing parties. This is in cities, but in the outskirts of cities and in rural areas, we regularly hear of gun battles taking place between conflicting parties leaving tens of citizens injured or killed.

A society with such an amount of hatred cannot confront an outside threat targeting its capabilities and destiny, an example of that is the exploitation of Afghanistan and Iraq by creating inner conflicts with their different ethnic groups.
Back to the situation in Yemen, the official apparatuses have failed to settle many of the conflicts in the light of not being able to implement laws and to carry out judicial decisions. This compels the political authority to involve all segments of the society, social figures and dignitaries, intellectuals and able individuals to contribute to resolve the residues and problems of the past, in cooperation with the executive authority in the spirit of one team. Toward this end, I suggest the following general rules:
1- A supreme Reconciliation Council to be established.
2- A main commission for each governorate is to be established with branch committees at the provincial level.
3- 2% of the state financial budget is allocated for the work of the council, and the main and branch committees.
4- All of the above committees are to be concerned with settling all problems of the past. Recent developing problems can only be settled through the specialized courts based on the relevant laws and Islamic legislation.
5- The working period of the above committees is two years from date of formation.
6- The council and the main committees can be broken into mini committees if that facilitates and falls in the best general interest of their work.

The missions of a Main Committee:
1- It bears the resolving of large issues beyond the ability and power of branch committees.
2- The direct supervision and monitoring of the work of the branch committees and to iron out hurdles facing them as well as providing for financial needs.
3- Any settlement reached by any two disputed parties is considered final and for the executive authority to implement the outcome. In the event that the main committee could not reach an honored settlement between any two disputing parties, the case is transferred to the Supreme Reconciliation Council. The decision of the council is considered final, similar to that by a Supreme Court, and the executive authority must implement it.
4- After resolving all the problems in each governorate, the main committee begins collecting and withdrawing heavy weapons, if any, in return for a reasonable financial compensation from the Supreme Council, based on submitted suggestions from the committees.

The missions of the Supreme Council:
1- Providing the financial capabilities to all lower level committees.
2- Looking into the cases that could not settled by the branched or main committees in any governorate of the Republic.
3- This council is formed under the auspices of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic, with the membership of Ministers of Justice, Interior and Defence, the Public Prosecution and Deputy Chief of Judicial Authority and Speaker of the Parliament.
4- Issuing a reconciliation document, valid for two years binding to all disputed parties at the level of governorates, where the mayors and security directors of provinces and regions security commanders are entrusted to seek full compliance from disputing parties.
5- The formation of a reconciliation commission for each governorate of nine members in addition to the presence of all military and security commanders, judges and prosecution officials. This commission will organize a general conference in each governorate to be attended by all disputed parties to certify the settlement reached.

The mission of the branch committees (Main committees in the provinces):
1- Recording and registering all outstanding issues, trying to settle them and or setting timetables for the governorate's main committee to look into them.
2- Presenting a vision to the main committee on how to resolve a difficult case based on the reality of the situation based on previously gathered information.
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[archive-e:745-v:13-y:2004-d:2004-06-10-p:opinion]