Tribes Demand Better Treatment [Archives:1998/31/Front Page]
Tribes from the governorates of Marib, Al-Jawf and Shabwa held meetings during 31/7-2/8/1998. The Sanaa gathering aimed to find ways and means to interact with the authorities.
Tribes from those regions have been odds with the authorities for quite a while now. They had engaged in kidnapping, road-blocking, sabotage of oil facilities, and other actions that forced the government to send and station armed forces in those regions.
The tribes demand a piece of the pie as they complain that their regions have been deprived of development projects.
The tribes also discussed the on-going border talks between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
At the end of the conference, the tribes issued the following recommendations and demands:
1- Giving these regions’ high school graduates priority in getting scholarships;
2- Giving citizens of these governorates priority in employment by petroleum companies operating there;
3- Allocating a specific number of seats at the Military College for young men from this region;
4- Giving the opportunity to unemployed young men to enlist in the army;
5- Giving more opportunity to people from these regions to occupy government posts there;
6- Providing prominent figures in the regions a recognized official status;
7- Resolving the problems of army officers and soldiers suspended from work;
8- Condemning the kidnapping of foreigners;
9- Rejecting accusations of being foreign agents; and
10- Forming a special committee headed by Sheikh Saleh Bin Sowda to follow up implementation of development projects in the region.
By: Mohammed Bin Sallam, Yemen Times
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