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>From www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat3_6.htm
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Wednesday, October 6, 1999
The land of the free and the home of the brave
Yemen is still a largely ungovernable country run by tribal chiefs and corrupt
clerks
By Zvi Barel
In the weapons market in San'a, one can buy an original Soviet Kalashnikov for
$360, while an Israeli-made Uzi sells for $130. It is unclear how the Israeli
submachine guns made their way to Yemen, but if they can be found at every
other weapons market across the world, why not here, where any child who can
afford to trade in his sword for a gun does so without interference?.While
pistols and guns are sold at open stalls and stores, purchasing an armored
personnel carrier or anti-aircraft missile is slightly more complicated,
requiring a visit to the salesman's home so that he can demonstrate the
capabilities of his merchandise. The possession of arms, and if possible of a
small private army as well, seem to be an existential necessity in Yemen even
now, five years after the civil war has ended. This is despite the fact that
Yemen has adopted the accepted sign of democracy: direct elections for the
presidency.
In a recent article, Nasser Ta Mustafa, head of the Yemen Center for Strategic
Studies and a member of parliament from the Reform Party, explained the
realities of life in the country: "You can take a foreign tourist hostage and
haggle for a job, a project or money in return for his release. You can commit
a 'blood vengeance' murder in broad daylight in the center of the capital city.
You can approach a local or foreign investor and forcefully twist his arm into
making you his partner. You can write whatever you want in the newspaper. You
can even start your own newspaper and use it to threaten your rivals. You can
run for parliament without having even one of the necessary qualities and
demand any job you want in return for dropping out of the race. You can freely
shoot a traffic policeman merely because he gave you a ticket. You can do all
this without being accountable to anyone and without anyone judging you."
Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Salah, who won 96.3 percent of the vote in the
elections held two weeks ago, has promised "to work to abolish the disarray in
the country and organize it as a state of law and order which will enjoy
prosperity, economic booming and equal opportunity for all." But Salah could
have promised anything after parliament prevented his rival from running in the
elections. Under Yemeni law, a candidate must win the support of at least 10
percent of parliament members in order to run for president. Since the
parliament is made up of tribal representatives, who know which side their
bread is buttered on, Salah can be confident that even if he does nothing in
the next five years but make sure that the tribal groups that support him
continue to enjoy their usual perks, he can continue to rule this country, one
of the poorest in the world, for at least another ten years.The division of
power in Yemen between tribal leaders and state institutions is not new. One
could even view the Yemeni regime as an example of the definition of democracy:
The state must serve its people, and if it fails to do so, it will be shot.
Literally. In Yemen, government representatives know exactly how far they can
venture, in geographic terms. Government representatives often need special
permits from tribal heads to pass through their territory. Police forces are
afraid to enter secluded areas, and when there is only one police station for
every 100,000 residents, it is fair to presume that it is not only the remote
regions that the police stay out of.
Agreements between officialdom and tribes are not always sufficient to prevent
the kidnapping of tourists, who receive full hospitality, tours and food from
their kidnappers, and are released only after the government has given in to
the kidnappers' demands. Sometimes it is a new jeep or an ambulance the tribe
wants, at other times it is a clinic, a school or a road.
Reporters receive their own special treatment. "The concept that journalism is
part of society, and its role is to protect democracy, is not yet accepted in
Yemen," a local journalist explains. "We only create the illusion of democracy.
If, for example, there is a murder or an explosion and you want to cover it,
you quickly discover that unless you have a foreign journalist at your side you
cannot obtain any official information. There are no press conferences, no
spokesmen and no one to even issue you a statement.
"You can gather information yourself, but then you must be very careful not to
uncover a defect which a government official is responsible for, because if you
do so you are in for a long harassment campaign. This begins with a seemingly
friendly phone call reminding you of the big favor the official did for one of
your family members, and if that is not enough to convince you to drop the
story, a threatening tone begins to take over. First it may be a threat to
uncover some horrible deed allegedly commited in your family, and later it
might be a direct threat on your property. If the official is high-ranking
enough you may even end up in jail."
Amnesty International tells of many cases in which journalists and
intellectuals were arrested without being told of the charges against them, and
without being allowed to talk to their lawyers or argue their case before a
judge. Its report also talks of many cases of people "disappearing," of
arbitrary extensions of prison terms and of severe torture during
interrogations.
Salah's supporters in government agencies have removed most of the workers
opposed to his rule, creating an informal "familial" atmosphere. A survey
conducted by a Yemeni research institute found that over 40 percent of
government clerks simply do not go to work, while the others keep to their own
private timetables and put in a minimal amount of time and energy. The findings
of this survey, like any other official information given out in Yemen, cannot
be totally relied upon, but accounts given by foreign businessmen also indicate
the wide gap between written rules and actual practices.
"Everyone offers you their good services," says a British food agent who has
been to Yemen on business several times, "and has an abundance of proof that
they, and no one else, can help you obtain the necessary permits. But then you
find out that on the way to the coveted permit there is a host of clerks each
of who, like highway robbers, smilingly and politely expects his share. Many on
the way demand to become your business partners, and when you finally get to
the person really in charge and wish to keep him for yourself, you find that
you must compete for his favors with several business rivals, real or
imaginary."
But the International Monetary Fund is pleased with the Yemeni system. It has
allowed the Yemeni government to borrow another $50 million as part of a three-
year aid package. A report by the IMF points to structural changes in Yemen's
economy, to progress made on the road to a free market and to a 10 percent drop
in the annual inflation rate. The IMF especially commends the bold measures
taken by the president, who noted the decline in income due to the drop in oil
prices and ordered a cutback of development investments and subsidies.
As is customarily the case with the IMF, its report, which is based on
government figures and estimates by its own experts, makes no reference to the
political and social ramifications of these measures. Corruption is not
mentioned, nor is the political power of the tribal leaders. The 17 million
citizens of Yemen have thus received an old president, who under the new
constitution will be limited to serving two terms of office of five years each -
an innovation in the Arab world - as well as compliments from the IMF. But the
Yemeni democracy will continue to maintain its unique identity: Free
competition for the favors of government clerks and kidnapping of tourists will
not be restricted, and the free market of weapons will continue to arm the
private battalions of this democracy's various components
© copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved
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