President Ali Abdullah Saleh held one his most extensive direct contact with the people of Hadhramaut last week. First in Wadi Hadhramaut (Seiyun), and then in Coastal Hadhramaut (Mukallah and Shihre), the President and a large entourage of officials and attendants, spent five full days talking to the people. From one place to another, he stopped to take note of the grievances of the people and, more importantly, their developmental needs. At final count, one estimate puts the total value of the projects the President authorized in this trip in the 1999 budget at YR 14 billion.
Call it patronage, or whatever you like, the Yemeni leader was able to absorb a lot of the grudges. As one diplomat put it: “He was like a fireman putting out fires…”
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