Nobel Prize Winning Journalist Tawakkol Karman : Arab Revolutions on the Right Lines

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Joint winner of Nobel peace prize 2011, Yemeni journalist, activist Tawakkol Karman has said that Arab revolutions not only toppled regime rulers, but also they would bring down the remaining figurative names of the regimes.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday on the occasion of a party convention in Rabat, Karman said that Arab revolutions were on the right lines.

"Women are participating in bringing down the regimes in the countries where the Arab Spring is occurring. However, women demonstrated a strong stance both during revolution and transition period in Yemen. I tried my best to help toppling over the regime in this country, too," said Karman.

Stating that regimes were brought down by people in those countries, "The Assad regime in Syria will also be overthrown soon like in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya," she said.

Karman said that Turkey should cooperate with international communities to stop mass killings in Syria, adding that Arab countries were expecting more action from Turkey.

Tawakkul Karman, known by some as the 'mother of the revolution', has long been a thorn in the side of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Karman was born on 7 February 1979 in Yemen. She is a journalist, politician and senior member of the Al-Islah political party, and human rights activist who heads the group "Women Journalists Without Chains," which she co-founded in 2005.

Yemen: National dialogue begins despite criticisms

Jaber Ali

July 17, 2012.

The preparatory process for Yemen’s national dialogue conference has been launched by Ban Ki-moon, UN’s Secretary General, calling it “an opportunity for all actors in Yemen to collectively establish a new social contract and achieve national reconciliation” in his opening remarks. He appreciated the continued efforts of all the Yemenites, government officials and citizens, in their endeavor to maintain the country’s transition process on the right path. A committee was put in place by a republican decree to assure the implementation of an agreement reached around the end of 2011 for a national dialogue when the protests successfully forced the then president to abandon to his post.

The formation of the 25 member committee to oversee the preparation of a comprehensive national dialogue has heavily been criticized by the political actors and the general public. Amongst them is the committee’s lack of representation of all the political parties and the non consultation of all the parties concerned when the decree was taken.

The opposition party, JMP, warned that “such a move will take Yemen back to the first situation” because the committee has “specified…duties and that remains unhelpful.” The newly formed Salafist political party also claims it has been ignored even though the Salafists represent the majority of the population. Members of parliament also voiced their concerns claiming that it’s totally erroneous.

The committee has its deadline fixed on the 30th of September. It comprises of concerned political groups specified in the power-transfer deal, which was brokered by the GCC and backed by the UN in November, including the Houthi Group, the Southern Movement and the youth-led protesters. However, not every party and political group had equal representation according to the names of the members.

Yemen’s prominent tourist landmark in danger

Along with Shibam mud-skyscraper, it served as living quintessence of mud architecture

By Saeed Al Batati, Correspondent

July 16, 2012

Seiyun Sultan Al Kathiri and Seiyun palace are synonymous for a giant mud-built mansion located at the heart of mud architecture hub in Yemen’s southern province of Hadramout.

Along with Shibam mud-skyscraper, the palace has served as a living quintessence of mud architecture that have flourished in Hadramout for centuries and a unique destination for many tourists who visit Yemen. Due to a decade of no renovation, the palace is now in terrible condition. Architects and local people have urged the Yemeni government to rescue the palace as rifts began to appear in many walls.

Sitting in a cracked room with supported roofs, a group of the palace’s employees have complained that despite the increasing cracks in the palace’s walls which show that the structure is on the brink of collapse , they were neither evacuated nor the rifts repaired.

Adnan Bawazer, who introduced himself as the director of antiquities department in the palace, told Gulf News that he is so concerned about his life and that of his colleagues as the palace may collapse on their heads at any time.”When the palace crumbles and we die, the cultural bodies will scurry and repair it. Our people usually arrive late.”

Adnan claimed that the palace is the most ancient and biggest existing mud-built building in the world and the country will lose a prominent landmark if it falls down.

 “We can’t imagine our city without the palace. We have sent many appeals to all government and non-government culture-oriented organisations to safe the palace from collapse.”

Adnan said that in 2005 a small earthquake hit the city and left slight damage. But the most damage was recorded when flash floods and heavy rains struck the area in 2008. Subsequently,rifts appeared and some walls started bending. Now the palace is suffering from growing and noticeable cracks that forced the palace administration to close some suites in the palace.

 “We have closed the western part as we recently saw cracks. We don’t want to put visitors in danger. Thirty per cent of the palace is out of service.” said Abdul Rahman Hassan Al Saqqaf, the director of the provincial office of the General Organisation of Antiquities, Museums and Manuscripts, a government body thatmanages the palace.

Recently, the Reconstruction Fund, established by the government to handle the effects of the flash floods in 2008,has earmarked YR6m(Dh104,000)as cost for remedial renovation.

Abdul Rahman thinks that withthis amount they will only be able to scratch the surface. “We have prepared a study on the needs of the palace. We think that the palace needs YR30m(Dh 517.000)for interior renovation and the same amount of money for renovating the palace from the outside.”

 “The mud buildings always need regular renovation since they don’t stand on a skeleton, rather the mud bricks attach to each other which keeps the building stand.”

Abdul Rahman outlined many reasons for the palace’s bad condition.

 “The age of the building, lack of regular renovation, rains and the building’s heavy weight are the reasons behind the emergence of rifts. Also the palace is based on partly weak mound which is made of rock and mud.”

In spite of the rifts, Abdul Rahman assured his employees that the ramshackle palace is not collapsing in the foreseeable future .”I can’t say that the palace is collapsing , but if it was left to go tod ruin, I can assuredly say that it will collapse in the short term.”


No visitors 


The palace is empty of tourists who used to visit the palace in huge numbers. Even before the political standoff early 2011, Hadramout province was classified as a dangerous area which made a major dent on the number of foreign tourists.

Yemen officer, daughter killed in ambush, witnesses say

July 16, 2012  

Masked gunmen on Monday ambushed and killed a prison service officer, his five-year-old daughter and two of his guards in the city of Taez in southwest Yemen, witnesses and officials said.

Captain Saleh al-Awlaqi was ambushed in central Taez in an attack which also left four others wounded, including two of his sons, witnesses said, adding that the assailants managed to flee afterwards.

An investigation has been begun to try to identify the attackers and establish the motive for the attack.

Taez, 255 kilometers southwest of Sanaa, was a hotbed of protest against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Salafis officially declare political party

July 15, 2012

Yemeni salafis officially declared on Sunday a political party, Al-Rashad, in which Salafis from various parts of the country took part.

Salfists had announced about their party in the mid of last March, but internal disagreements led to the delay of its declaration officially.

Minister of Information Ali Al-Amrani along with members of parliaments and representatives of political parties and civil society attended the declaration ceremony in the capital Sana'a.

In a speech, Al-Amrani called all Yemenis to renounce violence culture and adopt tolerance principles to build up a modern Yemeni nation.

Head of the party Mohammad Al-Amiri said that the party will take part in all areas of Yemen's political and economic life and cooperate with all Yemeni political parties in favor of Yemen.

He emphasized that the party will present its own visions about Yemen's stalemates, particularly the southern and Saada cases, singling out that the party is open to all Yemenis in line with Islamic Shariah law.

He denounced all violence acts committed against civilians and soldiers, decrying the incident of the Police College in which dozens of cadets were killed and wounded last week in Sana'a.

He called on the Yemeni government to shoulder its responsibilities to maintain security and stability, develop living standards of Yemenis, combat poverty and unemployment and food security.

Meanwhile, Salafis of Saada governorate boycotted the party, criticizing the formation of a salafi part and stressing that they refuse the participation in the political life.

Source: Yemen Post