Observed by: Mr. Alaa Isam
* You were attacked by official Yemeni media, are you afraid of visiting Yemen?
- The Yemeni government treats me as if I am a Yemeni journalist. They blocked my website for years, introduced false testimony about me in court and slandered me in the newspapers. We know what happens to Yemeni journalists, they get arrested, kidnapped and imprisoned and suffer other penalties for their work. The Yemeni government has no ethics or humanitarian limitations regarding its own citizens. The reason for the targeting of Yemeni journalists is that the truth is so dangerous to the regime. The Yemeni government spends a lot of energy creating propaganda and false realities for the Yemeni citizens and the international community.
* Do not you think that there is a contradiction between the concept of "democracy" and the United States' support for the regime of President Saleh that is in power in since 1978?
Clearly Yemeni democracy is going in the wrong direction. Ambassador Krajeski was correct in 2005 when he said progress toward democracy in Yemen had stopped. In fact it has reversed. Liberalizing reforms in Yemen ended when the reforms begin to threaten the ruling regime’s grip on power. Since that point, we have seen elaborate propaganda designed to appear as if the state has commitment to democratic ideals.
The part that is incomprehensible is the US pretense that Yemen is a working democracy or interested in democratic progress. This allows the ruling regime to escape responsibility for its actions. Yemen is a country riddled with corruption, where power, money and land are increasingly concentrated in the hands of President Saleh’s cronies. The media is increasingly repressed and equal rights become a more distant goal every day. The delayed electoral reformsand the attitude toward elections is a good example. Meanwhile the US and western donors appear to want any election, whether it is fair or not, in order to bestow the image of legitimacy on a hegemonic ruling party.
* What is the benefit derived by the Yemeni regime of a confidential relationship with al-Qaeda?
- The Yemeni regime plays the terror card very well and the confidential relationship with al Qaeda provides many benefits to both the regime and the terrorists. The Yemeni regime gains international support and financing by exploiting the terror threat. Some have suggested the intelligence services may have perpetrated some attacks themselves in order to generate support, to portray itself as a victim and relieve international pressure toward reform. Another benefit for the state is the use of al Qaeda operatives as mercenaries whether in the Saada War or against other domestic opposition from the 1993 assassination of Southern leaders and the murder of Omar Jarallah. There are questions about the kidnapping of the nine westerners in Saada in June of 2009. The state also advances the al Qaeda ideology itself by fatwa-ing its opposition which diminishes equal rights and pluralism and further entrenches the ruling structure.
The al Qaeda reveal themselves as mercenaries when they take part in the schemes to target Saleh’s enemies and also all these statements taking credit for a variety of murders that support Saleh politically. Most of the al Qaeda fanatics don’t understand who they are really working for and who they are hurting. Although they state their goal is to destroy the US economy, in fact they are destroying Yemen and mostly harming the Yemenis they claim to be protecting. This decades long enmeshment between al Qaeda and the Yemeni government proves beyond a doubt that the al Qaeda is a false ideology. The al Qaeda are mercenaries, bent on attaining power to control society and impose their narrow view through false statements and the murder of innocent persons.
* To what extent does Yemen's desire correspond to the support of the U.S, that has increased recently, with the statements of the Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs that the number of al-Qaeda members does not exceed 400?
- The number of 400 al Qaeda members is only valid if we do not count the al Qaeda supporters among the Yemeni ministries and in the security, business, endowments, military and education. These enablers of al Qaeda have a significant impact on the productiveness of the group and their ability to terrorize the world at large. It is my view that to diminish the al Qaeda threat—in a way that does not endanger any Yemeni civilians—a good strategy would be to purge these al Qaeda supporters from the government starting with some top level officials.
* How will you explain moving Yemen from amplifying the presence of al-Qaeda to minimizing it, especially after the last incident of the bomb packages plot?
- The Yemeni government says anything that it thinks will gain it support, even if today’s statements are the opposite of yesterday’s statement. The Vice President recently wondered about all the fuss in the world media over the packages, when plot could have killed so many, while another official said that Yemen needs billions of dollars to fight the threat. At the same time it is important to value and protect all life equally. A counter-terror operation that kills innocent Yemenis is as bad as a terror plot that kills innocent Americans. There are still thousands of people displaced without food after the assaults on Hawta in Shabwa.
Many in Yemen believe the threat of AQAP (al Qaeda in Yemen) is overstated, a product of the western nations or the Saudis. One thing that is clear is the ambition of the AQAP to murder Americans. Anwar al Awlaki my countryman has participated in the first airliner plot, the one with the Nigerian and the latest with the cargo plane. He said that all Americans should be killed. AQAP has also deemed itself a holy judge of all Yemenis, and said that those Yemenis they kill deserve it, whether it is some poor driver or a woman walking. With these idiotic statements, Awlaki and the rest –if its 40 or 400--are reining disasters on the Yemeni people--from terrorist violence and drones to the fears of military intervention and these raids by the Yemeni counter-terror forces that do not go near where the terrorists are but instead target opposition. The al Qaeda are using the Yemeni people as brutally as President Saleh does, and it is the people themselves who are paying for al Qaeda’s ambitions.
* In your opinion, is there a possibility of a military intervention, as it was said by the British Chief of Staff, Gen. David Richards?
- No, I think any reasonable analyst would be able to predict the disastrous outcome of a military intervention. It is exactly al Qaeda’s goal to draw the United States into Yemen. The US Secretary of Defense said there would be no war in Yemen, and therefore they are working with the Yemeni military and security. And then, of course, the US is stymied by the lack of real intelligence from the Yemeni side.
* Do you think that there is a possibility of raising the issues the use of unconventional weapons, in the intermittent wars against the Shiite rebels in northern Yemen, in the international courts against the regime of President Saleh?
- There is circumstantial evidence that the Yemeni military under Brigadier General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar used prohibited chemical weapons during the earlier rounds of the Sa’ada War. There may be physical evidence as well. But as of now, there is little proof and little desire on the part of the international community to pursue these charges.
Furthermore, there are numerous instances of overt war crimes in Yemen. Indiscriminate bombing in the Sa’ada wars as well as the withholding of aid to the civilians both violate international law. It’s now quite open and well documented by international rights groups, and yet the international community is focused on moving forward with President Saleh. The US Congress and the State Department are concerned that US military aid will be diverted to domestic conflicts, where laws of war were violated. Other international law violations include violent tactics against the southern protesters including shooting unarmed persons. If the international community is overlooking these blatant acts of violence andcollective punishment, I think they will never investigate the chemical weapons.
* Do the Yemeni opposition parties in northern Yemen play a positive role in the political life?
- The opposition parties play a positive role in that the JMP voices the issues and open up the discussion. They try to hold the government to account. And they face terrible costs for that. Many in the opposition have been jailed and threatened, beaten and kidnapped.
On way the JMP fails to maximize their impact by their inability to promptly issue English language statements to the western media. I don’t know if it is a question of disagreements among the leadership as to the content of press releases, or if it is an administrative failure to appoint an English language translator and press contact for the JMP. But I do know they could be a much more powerful voice if they made any attempt to engage the English speaking world.
Furthermore the JMP has the same elitist mindset that they criticize. The leadership figures have been political leaders for decades. There is little input from the party members. The JMP directs the members, not the other way. The JMP mobilizes its base in protests only as a temporary tactic to pressure the GPC and usually in the midst of a back-room deal. While the electoral system is heavily weighted in favor of the ruling party, there is nothing preventing the opposition from modeling democratic practices internally by respecting term limits, demonstrating fiscal transparency, and creating egalitarian routes to leadership.
* What is your advice for the establishment of a transparent parliamentary electionin Yemen? And what will you say to the South Yemenis who intend to boycott it?
- South Yemenis have that right to boycott. Some southerners refuse the election on the ground that it is occurring in a different country. Southerners like northerners also have a right to a fair election. Many were hopeful that the 2006 presidential election might bring a change, or at least a greater level of popular empowerment. Many were disappointed by the vote rigging and after the election observers left, when the regime began targeting the opposition poll workers and activists for their participation in the democratic process.
There are clear mechanisms that will enable a fairer election. Many of these were spelled out by the EU election observers, and they formed the basis of the agreement following the 2006 election. One simple issue is where a voter is able to vote. Currently, voters can chose to vote at either their home address or their work address, meaning the 30,000 soldiers transferred to Aden and Abyan for the Gulf 20 would be entitled to vote in those governorates. Another hindrance to a fair election is the merger between the ruling party and the state apparatus. The state lobbies for the GPC and the GPC lobbies for the state twelve months a year, so the JMP has a disadvantage. Most people did probably vote for President Saleh, but Mr. Bin Shamlan had to compete against fatwas and fear mongering, voter intimidation and bribery.
The ruling party and the state continually thwart power sharing—both with leaders of opposition parties and movements and with the people themselves. The president selects the winners and then the election is held, like with the 2008 governor’s elections. The results were overturned in the two provinces where the GPC’s candidate did not win.
The way for the GPC and the JMP to ensure a transparent election is through the integrity of the SCER, which President Saleh announced would be formed from judges. But even judges are vulnerable to threats on their families and other means of influencing their decisions. We can say in a joking way that the judges of the SCER should be afforded political asylum after the election, or to choose those with a terminal illness who don’t fear death. But the key to the process is to de-politicize the decision making process and to protect the decision makers from any harm or consequences.
* What is the cause of the international silence towards the Yemeni army's suppression against the people's movement in the south?
- There are so many war crimes and atrocities in Yemen, and they are all overlooked. Iranian paramilitary shot and killed Neda Agha-Soltan during protests in Iran and the all world knows her name. But no one outside Yemen knows Wadhah Hussain Ali, Ahmed Darwish or two year old Chavez. External and internal factors are at play in the global silence on the issues and atrocities occurring in the south.
I’m not sure that the embassies even understand or believe the full extent of what is happening. I was very concerned to read in the Wikileaks that US General Patraeus and Ambassador Seche in January of 2010 both believed that “only three” civilians were killed in the December air strikes. President Saleh to his credit tried to explain that many more were killed, but the general and ambassador thought President Saleh was uniformed and out of touch. As we all know, Saleh was telling the truth, and they missed it.
Another reason is the lack of international media coverage and comprehension, including the language barrier. I commend the Aden News Agency on having an English page. None of the southern leaders have a translator. With the western media, it doesn’t matter what Mr. Al Beidh says if he doesn’t say it in English. Most of what the English speaking world hears and knows about Yemen comes from the regime and this is part of their logic of censorship, blocking the web and jailing journalists.
The modern world moves on twitter and facebook. Mobile phone videos and photos can replace an international news crew if they are widely circulated. I understand in Yemen the electricity is poor and the internet is worse and the internet cafes have intelligence officers and people are embarrassed if their English is not the best, but the truth is important.
The world is a very busy place and full of starving people and corrupt governments that have innocent people in jail. People need a reason to care and a way to mentally connect. Even having more signs in English during the protests would help reach a broader audience. There is a lack of cultural understanding and unthinking bias on both sides that has to be overcome. Yemen is very special and it’s important to show the real Yemeni face to the world.
* Do the interests of the international community with the central government in Sana'a prevent a public support for the movement in the south?
- Yes, I don’t think the western nations see a workable alternative to President Saleh. Western support or even recognition of the southern issue would jeopardize the regime’s cooperation with them. The legal argument under international law that the south was occupied following the civil war has little weight when the UN itself is a majority of dictators and even Somalialand that has been self-governing for 20 years has not received international recognition.
Some southern leaders say the goal of the movement is independence but they don’t practice democracy or demonstrate the ability to govern based on a mechanism that determines the people’s will. There are many factions that could come to the table as equals. But like in the rest of Yemen and also in Bangladesh, historical personalities lock in old rivalries and old habits. I would like to hear more from the young leaders who weren’t even alive during the 1960s, much less already heroes. The question for the southerners is—are they really breaking away from the traditions of nepotism and elitism to establish a basis for equal opportunity, equal protection and equal rights? It’s a challenge but it is the basis of democracy.
* How can Yemen go beyond the recent problems and step towards a clearer way of future?
- In these last years I have offered many suggestions, not as solutions but as ideas for thought. Some of these ideas included disbanding the GPC, introducing federalism, transforming to a parliamentary system, reinstituting the document of pledge and accord, paying every citizen an equal dividend from the gas and oil, a caretaker government of Yemeni technocrats, and a public accounting of the Yemeni government budget. The quickest to heal Yemen however is with a free media.
In my view most of the public grievances and structural dysfunctions arise from the hegemony of the ruling family. It is a system of unfair advantages politically, economically and socially that is based on the denial of equal rights. The solution must include a mechanism that creates equality, a system that entrusts power in neutral bureaucratic institutions and in politicians who are accountable and have term limits. While Yemen’s crises need to be addressed and resolved with urgency, in the long term, dialog among the elite is just more elitism.
Source: http://bit.ly/e5sJLz
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