Al-Thawry [Archives:2003/660/Press Review]

14 August 2003
Main headlines:
– YSP assistant secretary general meets Palestinian ambassador and Dutch minister plenipotentiary
– Bakiel tribes hold general meeting to tackle situations of their detained tribesmen
– Out of keenness on democracy, YSP: We refuse merger, ready for dialogue
– Security members attack house of a businessman in Hudeida, injure his sons
Columnist Jamal Amer writes saying despite of the president's generosity towards many of tribal sheikhs with money and prestige and granting them military or consultative posts at the state institutions he has nevertheless not been able to subject the tribe to the power of the state, let alone its regulations and laws. An implicit agreement might have been concluded between the two parties according to which the two sides remain above these laws. The sheikhs harbor loyalty to the first party and the first party guarantees whatever available of influence and wealth. It may be certain that Yemeni successive post-revolution authorities, excluding the reign of president al-Hamdi, have not viewed the tribe as an entity that lived severe isolation led to its lagging behind keeping pace with other societies that availability of various levels of education and other basic services had helped in their being civilized and delivered from their backwardness. These tribal gatherings were purposefully meant to be isolated and introvert, without any real interests to exchange with others. The tribes, except the their senior sheikhs, remained without regular living earnings securing for them means of dignified living instead of depending on looting or imposing royalties on petroleum or on the state after each kidnapping operation or blowing up an oil pipeline.
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