Their News [Archives:2008/1125/Local News]

– Adjibade to fill UN resident coordinator position in Yemen

Aboudou Karimou Adjibade, former of UNICEF, will take over the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator post in Yemen in place of Flavia Pansieri, who recently left the position.

Pansieri will leave Yemen on February 6 for her new post as Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteer Program (UNV), based in Bonn, Germany.

The UNV works to promote volunteering and works closely with countries to ensure that appropriate legislative and institutional frameworks are in place, with the goal of helping local residents to better their communities. The UNV fields upwards of 7,000 volunteers per year in over 160 countries.

UN Development Program (UNDP) Country Director Selva Ramachandran will continue to manage the day-to-day operations under the leadership of the new Resident Coordinator, Karimou Adjibade. The Country Director is not a replacement for the Resident Coordinator, but an additional staff member who helps to oversee UN activities in Yemen.

In honor of Pansieri's departure, the International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) Forum gathered to host a small farewell party to thank her for all her work.

Khalid Al-Mulad, Chair person of the forum, stated that Pansieri played a key role in bringing the donor community together with the INGOs working in Yemen.

“I really wish the INGO Forum success in all their activities in Yemen,” said Pansieri. “I think what you do here is vitally important and you will certainly face many difficulties and challenges, but have patience.”

“I shall continue to have a keen interest in Yemen and shall continue to follow up on its progress, through both media and internal UN reports,” said Pansieri.

Pansieri said that she won't have any direct involvement in Yemen's programs except those relating to volunteers. However, after spending three years in Yemen, she is sad to leave and hopes to come back for a visit in the future.

– YLC Sana'a events calendar

The Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies has begun an online calendar on which to list events happening in or around Sana'a. We hope that this webpage will be a useful resource for our students and the public, and promote attendance at cultural events in the city. If your organization is hosting an event in Sana'a and would like to publicize it, please email a short description of the event (or flyer) and the time, date and location to [email protected]. Please also help us spread the word about this service by alerting other organizations about the site. You can access the calendar at http://ycmes.org/sanaa_events_calendar_homepage.htm, or go to our homepage (ycmes.org) and click on the “calendars” link.

– Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Pres

Journalists from the Middle East and North Africa are invited to apply for the third Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, which aims to promote media freedom and the rule of law in the region.

The Freedom of the Press Journalist award of 15,000 Euros (US$22,000) is open to print or online journalists from the following counties: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen.

Candidates must submit work published between 15 March 2007 and 15 March 2008 that tackled issues of the rule of law – good governance, struggle against corruption, freedom of expression and human rights.

A Young Researcher award of 10,000 Euros (US$14,700) will also be conferred to a university student under 35 (born on or after 2 June 1973), who is a national from one of the countries listed above, for a dissertation or thesis written during 2007 that addresses the rule of law or press freedom. Samir Kassir is a Lebanese journalist who was assassinated in 2005 by unknown assailants for criticising Syria's policy towards Lebanon. The award in his name is given each year by the European Commission Delegation in Lebanon, in association with the Samir Kassir Foundation.

The deadline for entries is 30 March 2008.

– YLC Sana'a events calendar

The Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies has begun an online calendar on which to list events happening in or around Sana'a. We hope that this webpage will be a useful resource for our students and the public, and promote attendance at cultural events in the city. If your organization is hosting an event in Sana'a and would like to publicize it, please email a short description of the event (or flyer) and the time, date and location to [email protected]. Please also help us spread the word about this service by alerting other organizations about the site. You can access the calendar at http://ycmes.org/sanaa_events_calendar_homepage.htm, or go to our homepage (ycmes.org) and click on the “calendars” link.

– Yemen Times Hosts Conference on U.S. Primary Elections

The Yemen Times hosted a press conference to explain the significance of the American primary elections that are already underway now.

In the conference, which was attended by activists and journalists, the United States Embassy's public affairs officer Ryan Gliha delivered a lecture on importance of these elections in the United States.

The primary elections are crucial in deciding which candidate will win the sponsorship of their party, Democratic and Republican, thereby going on to run in the general election for president. Nominees who belong to neither party have nearly no chance of winning the presidential election.

Gliha also discussed the effects of money on the results of the U.S. election campaigns, saying that candidates who poorly-funded do not fare well in the elections.

“Costs of U.S. election propaganda have reached $ 1 billion