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Haid Al-Jazil, a village perched entirely on a boulder. Wadi Do'an, Yemen |
Bin Dohry’s Letter from Hadhramaut -
December 2017
It was
rather difficult to get a flight from Kenya to Hadhramaut; or for that matter
from any other country, flights to Yemen without a great hassle is a near
impossibility as it is still at war with itself. The only operational airports
in Yemen are Seiyun in Hadhramaut, as well as Aden airport. The latter is under
the strict control of the coalition forces.
This is
truly a manmade dire situation in which the main players wish the status quo of
the country at large remains as it is and in total chaos with shortages in
food, diesel, electricity and the most basic necessities of life. This is the
perception of those who wish to remain in power, increase their wealth and
maintain status. While all this chaos is going on, the International Community
has been impotent and failed in its attempts to bring the warring parties to
sort out their problems or take any decisive action.
The Coalition also has its
own agendas and do not seem to have a strategy on the unfolding events which
have taken many by surprise with the recent brutal killing of ex-President Ali
Abdullah Saleh by the Houthis on 4 December 2017, which happened on the
outskirts of Sana’a while on his way with others to Sanha’an his tribal home
and birthplace.
Yemen today
stands at a cross road of separation into two states and who knows what will be
the final outcome as many want total separation from both the two parts of
Yemen (North & South). The Mahra/Socotra on the one hand and Hadhramaut on
the other! It all remains to be seen.
There have
been too many players as we witness – the Legally recognized Government of Abdo
Rabo Mansour Hadi (which operates from Riyadh), the Central Government in
Sana’a now controlled by the Houthis and the Majlis al-Intigaaliy (Transitional
Council) led by Abubaker Al Zubeidy (the former Governor of Aden) with others
including former Governor of Hadhramaut – Ahmed Bin-Breik, claiming for a
complete break of the South from the North.
The Yemeni
Rial has totally collapsed against the US Dollar, it has risen from 210 Rials
before the war to currently YR430 and rising. Money changers do most of the
transactions compared to the banks.
Diesel
shortages and power cuts in Mukalla have been for hours daily and diesel is
imported by tycoons.
No
government actually exists and so most utilities are dysfunctional, many
government employees have not been paid their salaries for months. Most of the
laymen/women praise and speak highly of the year 2015/16 when Al Qaeda took
control of Hadhramaut claiming that there was stability and justice. They dealt
with issues promptly and professionally and no black market trading existed
then compared to these days after Al Qaeda were driven out of Mukalla and
Hadhramaut. Security which was a major concern was handled well then.
Returning to
my trip, I spent three days in Dubai and flew out on Oman Air to Salalah in
Oman where I had to spend three days to catch a bus directly to Mukalla (this
took 17 hours) in a small bus and we were only 10 passengers – 2 Brits –my wife
and myself, a Belorussian (Yemeni), the others were Omani. The Oman side of the
stretch was perfect; but once we entered the border point of Sarfit the Yemeni
side the road was treacherous for long stretches. At the border points, the
Omani side was quick and swift in processing our documents but once we entered
Yemeni territory the process was hugely time consuming with security personnel
flexing their muscles at the Yemeni end. It will be wonderful if Yemen changes
and takes lessons from their Omani neighbours. There is was NIL politeness and
the search on of the passenger luggage was to say the least for feeding their
corrupt practices.
Mahra
Province is another very sad story. Its towns were in appallingly poor
condition, one rarely saw tarmacked roads. There was no sign of a government
apparatus, no security checkpoints on the way to Hadhramaut. We had spent time
in Al Mahra looking for diesel as our bus was running out. We finally managed
to get some diesel in Qishn.
Once into
the borders of Hadhramaut as we passed the Mahra towns of Al Gheidhah, Nashtun,
Saihut, Qishn, we entered Dees Asharqiyyah in Hadhramaut, the security
checkpoints were in evidence all the way to Mukalla; we ran the gauntlet of
more than 15 altogether. Vigorous checks were carried out in Shihr and onwards
to Mukalla. By the time we arrived it was the following day in the early
morning hours of 5th November 2017
Yemeni Bureaucracy and a State of Chaos.
The issue of
optimism or pessimism on the situation in Hadhramaut or in Yemen at large, has
to be defined at a later stage when the situation gets clearer, the reason
being, there is relatively nothing positive to contribute without touching on
the raw nerves of many. Political developments keep moving faster and are
changing by the day.
I will dwell
on my personal involvement in some of the local activities in Hadhramaut in a chronological
order.
I received
many official and social invitations to local functions, all I felt I could not
turn down. Some of the events that I attended I was generously accorded the
status of an official guest! On other occasions I met with various officials
and public figures, mainly of the Mukalla Branch of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the Director General of Immigration. Here, I took the opportunity
to raise some of the issues relating to Hadhrami Emigrants living in the
Diaspora (Al mughtaribeen fil Mahjar).
Soon after
my arrival in Mukalla on 6th November, I was asked a couple of days later to
attend a Youth Entrepreneurship event to make a short presentation and give
away certificates with others to some of the participants. It was well attended
in a social hall in Fuwah by local officials and the community.
The lack of
resources that confront innovation and community work have been shortage of
financial support as well as technical guidance but the spirit of the youth was
evident and deserves encouragement and the support of government as well as
local and international organisations.
On one
November evening, I met with the Governor of Hadhramaut Major-General Faraj
Salmeen Albahsani at his residence accompanied by Col. Ahmed Bahabry. I presented
the Governor with a copy of our Hadhramaut Research Centre’s (HRC) first
English academic book “Hadhramaut & it’s Diaspora: Yemeni Politics,
Identity and Migration.” Edited by Dr Noel Brehony. We then discussed issues of
interest on Hadhramaut and the Hadhrami Diaspora.
During my
stay I met with Dr Abdulkader Bayazid, Deputy Dean, Hadhramaut University –
Medical College and the Secretary General of the All Hadhramaut Inclusive
Conference on two consecutive days, when he picked me up. We started early in
the morning and worked until noon in a wide range of visits and discussions. On
the second occasion I was on the receiving line with the Medical College and
University professors/doctors to welcome the Governor of Hadhramaut at the
University on the very well-attended occasion of its 20th anniversary
since the setting up of the Medical College. It was established by our learned
friend the Iraqi Professor Ghanem Al Sheikh now lecturer at Imperial College,
London.
Prof. Ghanem and I met some years back on a flight when we were
stranded at Istanbul Airport for some 36 hours. We then got on very well with
each other; we had a lot to talk about and we enjoyed exchanging views on a
wide range of topics. I joined the Governor, the President of the University, Prof.
Khanbash, Deans of faculties and Head of the Medical College, Prof. Ali Batrfi
in a closed session discussing the College’s needs, before we joined the
audience in the main hall of the College for the official event.
I left
Mukalla for Seiyun and on 18 November I met the Hadhrami historian Sayyid
Jaafer Assagaaf. He is a good friend of the late John Shipman, Leila Ingrams,
both of whom passed away last year in the UK.
He was visibly saddened when I relayed to him the news of their
departure; he was unaware of their untimely passing away.
On the 19th
of November I met members of the Arab Network @ Singapore and discussed the
setting up an English system of education in Seiyun. I had earlier visited a
potential location in Seiyun and we are still pursuing this very important
educational subject to benefit the interior (the Wadi).
My final
official event was the presentation I made on 3 December to launch our English
academic book “Hadhramaut & It’s Diaspora: Yemeni Politics, Identity &
Migration” at the HRC’s birth place in Fuwah, Mukalla. A number of Hadhrami
academics, and the general public attended, and the Q & A session was very
inspiring and informative for the young generation.
Ex-President
Ali Abdullah Saleh was brutally executed on 4th December by the Houthis. I left
in the early morning hours of 5th December by road from Mukalla to Salalah.
During my
stay in Mukalla, I managed to have fringe meetings with senior government
officials to discuss the hardships faced by Hadhrami/Yemeni emigrants in the
diaspora for they face very bureaucratic and frustrating time-consuming and
uninformative procedures adopted by Yemeni Embassies/ Consulates in many
countries. I spoke of experiences I witnessed and followed up on behalf of some
emigrants when dealing with such un-necessary long and time-wasting procedural
bureaucracies and cumbersome futile inefficiencies.
I relayed this to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative in Mukalla where I saw how the
visitors were complaining at the lack of efficiency and the non-issuance of
receipts for money paid on services rendered. These led to long waiting delays.
These issues are also experienced by Yemenis interacting with some Yemeni Embassies/ Consulates abroad. I met the Director General of Immigration and complained to him on how East African born Yemenis were segregated and did not receive similar treatment like their fellow nationals when it came to the renewal of their passports or to obtaining or renewing one’s Identity Card (ID). He assured me that passports were now renewable in Mukalla or the Embassies abroad, but there was a time when clearance had to come from Sanaa. The Director of IDs informed me that ID cards for those born overseas still had to be cleared by Sanaa to date where data was being held. I told him I found this very amusing since as far as I am aware the” legitimate government” is supposedly based in Riyadh or is it Aden?
These issues are also experienced by Yemenis interacting with some Yemeni Embassies/ Consulates abroad. I met the Director General of Immigration and complained to him on how East African born Yemenis were segregated and did not receive similar treatment like their fellow nationals when it came to the renewal of their passports or to obtaining or renewing one’s Identity Card (ID). He assured me that passports were now renewable in Mukalla or the Embassies abroad, but there was a time when clearance had to come from Sanaa. The Director of IDs informed me that ID cards for those born overseas still had to be cleared by Sanaa to date where data was being held. I told him I found this very amusing since as far as I am aware the” legitimate government” is supposedly based in Riyadh or is it Aden?
I also met with the newly appointed General
Manager of the Electricity Company in Mukalla and many others to discuss ways
and means in participating in the rebuilding of various institutions. Most
welcomed the positive attitude from those in the Diaspora. Especially by
investing in power generation, oilfield activities, education and healthcare. I
did point out that many in the Diaspora were willing, however the current
atmosphere in the country was still of concern to many investors. While the
uncertainty prevails there has been an influx of Hadhramis returning to
Hadhramaut from the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, this has made housing
projects flourish as there is scarcity of accommodation within Mukalla where
rental costs have spiraled and cost of land skyrocketed!
As I stated
earlier there is total confusion within the country as well as in the
Embassies/Consulates. These issues need to be addressed and discussed with
those in the diaspora to avoid further injustices that are inflicted on them.
Now that the coalition is in charge those in responsible positions in Yemen’s
government should be taken to the UAE or Oman to see how these States
facilitate procedures for everyone including their own nationals!! They should
be given adequate professional training with the hope they adhere to rules and
regulations without the temptation of corrupt practices.
The chaos in
the country benefits a few who live on extortion and a quick kill for a fast
buck at the expense of the population. On a positive note many are watching the
scene and there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel, once the dust
settles down.
Muhammad
Bin-Dohry
21st
December 2017
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