Questions without answers [Archives:2005/836/Opinion]

What is going on? That is the question that has been racing through the minds of many Yemenis as they are trying to figure out exactly where this country is heading and what is in store for the future. One is not at all surprised by the sullen faces one encounters on the buses, in the streets, in meetings – official and unofficial – and in the seminars and workshops. All these inquisitive faces seem to seek answers to several perplexing issues lurking in their mind, as they ponder skeptically, are we all right in this country? All indications are that the country is facing an unclear direction, economically and socially. The recent bloodshed in Sa'ada remains in murky surroundings and as expected, no real winner seems to come out of the senseless resorting to armed warfare, just when the country is in need of a climate of peace and stability.

A friend of this observer remarked: “You know, this country seems to run on paradoxes. With Yemen gaining in revenues from rising oil prices, the exchange rate of the Yemeni Riyal is plummeting. Just ask the market and you will find that the exchange rate is now US $ 1=YR 192. In the space of a week that is a jump of 4 points. With that in the background the Government is seeking to carry out another dose of the Economic, Financial and Administrative Reform Program, whereas the benefits of the previous doses have yet to be felt by the people of the country. With the prospects of gas and new oil finds, we are still seeing Yemenis get further plunged into poverty. I am not sure there is much room for optimism with so many incongruent events overshadowing all the niceties constantly blared out by our Ministry of Information and about the great achievements of our Government.”

I tried to argue on behalf of the reforms at least that many will take time before they have a tangible effect on the standard of living of the people. But I knew for sure that it is getting harder and harder to find real justifications for our deteriorating way of life. It is also hard to explain why the YR is plummeting, when there are reserves of over US $ 6 billion in the Central Bank of Yemen. Paradoxes like these are indeed worthy of explanation by the Government and the more clearer the explanation the better, because one feels that somehow much of what is happening defies logic. There is a war against so called “religious extremists” brewing in Sa'ada, but there are Quranic schools run by religious inclinations that have been proven to nurture terrorists right in our capital city. There are also religious extremists of the Salafi genre assaulting mosques and removing the preachers assigned by the Government itself, yet the War on Sa'ada is being fought against the people of a marginalized and neglected province of Yemen, who have not been known to harbor any attacks against civilians or intimidations against any followers of other sects. The people of Yemen were glad to hear that the battles in Sa'ada have seen their end, a few months ago although the approach may not have been agreeable to many a sensible observer, but now we read the battles have spilled over to Al-Jouf, Dhamar and Amran Governorates. With a tight lid placed on information about the fighting, speculations are mounting that the conflict could draw international attention, especially with mounting civilian casualties and further suffering by the people of Sa'ada. The once peaceful and calm city of Sa'ada is now under a tight military curfew and subject to breakouts of fighting within the city itself. While most Yemenis tend to feel that the Government should find a quick and peaceful finale to the senseless fighting, which has obviously taken on tribal manifestations as well as some differences in the dogmatic beliefs or the political attitudes of the adversaries.

The Government, rightfully wants to encourage the return of tourism and foreign and emigrant private investments in Yemen, but it should not expect tourists to rush to a country in a state of war with itself and investors to throw their valued capital in unsure prospectuses.

There is good sense in initiating a dialogue of all the different political factions in the country, but to date this dialogue has not materialized, nor has an agenda been drafted for the meeting. What are the paramount issues that have to be discussed and what kind of solutions are being looked for? The truth of the matter is that neither the Government nor the opposition can give the faintest idea of what this dialogue should produce. Needless to say, the opposition is yet to feel comfort in this gesture by the ruling party, as many dialogues in the past have been fruitless and for all intents and porpoises were just a matter of biding away the time, until God works out an arrangement that will not require any further dialogue. Nevertheless, the opposition should answer favorably to calls for rapport by the ruling party, the People's General Congress. I say this because I know that there are first of all people in the PGC, who are not naive or oblivious to the frailty of our present situation. Furthermore, the opposition should be loud and clear and present constructive and meaningful suggestions in such dialogues, rather than to just feel content with the eternal motto of our late friend Omar Al-Jawi, who would always start of such meetings with: “We told you so….”.

I know this suggestion may not be so agreeable to the staunch PGC members, who see some remembrance of days past in it. But, I say it in all earnestness that the Political Accord Document signed in Amman just a few months before the outbreak of the Civil War of 1994, still has several points in it that could form the basis of genuine political reform. There is no question that such political reform is evidently called for now more than any other time since that dark moment in the history of Yemen, just a little over a decade ago. To let things stand as they are have been shown over the last ten years not to be fruitful or answerable to many of the questions that lurk in the observer's mind.
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