Yemen Digest 31 January 2013

C. Martin-Chico/ICRC/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/photo-gallery/2013/yemen-2012-in-pictures.htm

Highlights:
Half of Yemen trapped in poverty
Financial Times — 28 January 2013
Yemen’s biggest problem is the grinding poverty which has plagued the country for decades. When the former northern and southern states – the Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen – unified in 1990 less than a fifth of the population lived under the breadline. Years of economic mismanagement later, the UN reckons that more than half of Yemenis live on $2 a day or less. The UN believes that 13m people – more than half the population – now need some kind of humanitarian assistance. Even if that can be managed, there is the tricky question of jobs, especially for Yemen’s young people, about 60-70 per cent of whom are unemployed. But Sana’a already spends 80 per cent of its budget on salaries and subsidies and will struggle to pay for a $3.2bn budget deficit forecast for 2013. The government cannot afford to create new jobs.

Yemen fighting stops as mediators try to release hostages
Reuters — 30 January 2013
Yemen suspended a military operation against al Qaeda-linked militants in the south on Wednesday while tribal leaders tried to secure the release three Western hostages the Islamists are holding, a tribal leader said. About 8,000 soldiers have been taking part in the offensive, which was launched on Monday against on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) stronghold in the small town of al-Manaseh, in al-Bayda province south of the capital Sanaa.

Corruption and inefficiency hinders Yemen’s local administration
Yemen Times — 29 January 2013
Dr. Abdullah Abu Al-Ghaith, a professor of political science at the University of Sana’a said that the local governance has failed to achieve its ends because the aim of establishing local rule in Yemen was not actually implemented with the interest of Yemen’s districts and areas in mind. “The aim was to only keep the citizens busy with something unreal and now this has become an obstacle to people’s access to service,” he said. He indicated that the majority members who entered the elections were corrupted figures. The professor highlighted that “the local councils have become just a tool in the hand of the regime to pass decisions without being accountable for the consequences.”

Weekly News Update 3 January 2013

Reuters/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/28/us-yemen-drone-idUSBRE8BR0CN20121228

Highlights:
Yemen Economy Limps Into the New Year
Al-Hayat via Al-Monitor — 31 December 2012
At a conference organized by the Studies and Economic Media Center in Sanaa and a team focusing on economic reforms in conjunction with the Center for International Private Enterprise, a number of suggestions were unveiled for reducing the unemployment rate in Yemen, which now exceeds 60% among youth. One such plan entailed a focus on manual-labor job projects, accelerated job training and qualification programs tailored to the needs of the market and the reorganization and restructuring of the Yemen Skills Development Fund.

South not convinced military restructure will create balance
Yemen Times — 31 December 2012
President Hadi’s military restructure, which included a purging of the Republican Guard and the First Armored Division, has been met largely with lukewarm and uncertain feelings in the South, a region that has threatened secession on numerous occasions. Some southerners like Dr. Abdo Al-Ma’tari, a spokesman for the Southern Movement, have even called the decrees a “farce.” “These decrees are meant to tempt people to join the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) even though nothing has been changed in the military,” he said.

‘Abd al-Rauf al-Dhahab and Bad Intel
Waq al-Waq — 31 December 2012
On Saturday December 29 the US tried a third time (that we know of) to kill al-Dhahab.  And for a third time it missed.  This time killing three members of a local tribes who, again, may or may not be members of al-Qaeda.  At least one local report has identified one of the dead as an 11-year-old boy, although as is often the case there are other reports that give different names and ages for the victims. Even with all the sketchy details from the ground, this case raises several questions. First, how did ‘Abd al-Rauf al-Dhahab make it onto the US kill list? His family, as many readers of Waq al-waq will remember, was heavily involved in the Ansar al-Shariah takeover of Rada’a in early 2012 – on both sides actually, as one pro-government brother killed another pro-al-Qaeda brother before the pro-government brother was killed by yet another pro-al-Qaeda brother.