Opposition groups gather to discuss Yemen’s woe

Mohammed al Qadhi, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: May 20. 2009 11:30AM UAE / May 20. 2009 7:30AM GMT

SANA’A // Around 1,200 people representing different political, economic, social and religious groups will gather today in the Yemeni capital to discuss the challenges facing the country ahead of a national dialogue yet to be scheduled.

The two-day consultation meeting is organised by the Joint Meeting Parties, an opposition coalition of five parties that includes Islah, Yemen’s main Islamist party, and the socialist party.

“We have called for a national consultation meeting with representatives of different community groups including politicians, civil society activists, clerics, tribal chiefs and social dignitaries, businessmen and investors, academics and media professionals, women and youth activists, old veterans and others to bear their responsibility concerning the serious problems that threaten the society at large,” said Aidarous al Nakeeb, vice chairman of the supreme committee of the national consultation.

The government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, has its hands full dealing with the on-and-off insurgency in the north and the secessionist uprising in the south in addition to al Qa’eda and the severe economic hardships plaguing much of the populace.

Mr al Nakeeb, who is also head of the socialist caucus in parliament, said all community groups should take part in debating these challenges and proposing remedies.

“The situation is so serious and worrying that there is an urgent need that all Yemenis come together to discuss how to get out of this impasse. We thought any effective and fruitful dialogue should involve all society groups instead of restricting dialogue to political elites,” he said.

“Since June of last year, we have been holding contacts and created a database for target community groups’ representatives. We ran several workshops and meetings to discuss several issues including the political system, economic problems, the war in Sa’ada and the south unrest and others, in order to anatomise the overall crisis Yemen is going through.”

An opposition committee will be elected today that will be in charge of setting the agenda of the national dialogue meetings, Mr al Nakeeb said.

“We are aware that the elected committee should be independent and inclusive so that all groups, including the rebels in Sa’ada, the people behind the southern movement and others, feel it is not biased to any group and, therefore, agree to take part in the national dialogue … The outcome is a national project to salvage the country from collapsing,” he said.

However, a ruling General People’s Congress official said the two-day meeting was not inclusive and represented only the Joint Meetings Party.

“It is their business to have a vision towards all issues; we hope they can have a clear vision as the JMP has not got yet a clear stand with regards to what is happening in the country either in Sa’ada or some of the southern provinces,” Tarik al Shami, the head of the GPC media department, said.

Following recent violence in the south, the president called for dialogue with the southern movement leaders to listen to their grievances under the umbrella of a unified Yemen. Local authorities will start their own discussions on May 25.

“The president called for a national dialogue on all issues including constitutional amendments, improving local governance or the other issues,” said Mr al Shami, whose party holds an 85 per cent majority in the 301-seat parliament. “The local authorities all over the country will conduct these dialogues in which all community groups will take part; they will discuss the people grievances and come up with a vision on how to address them.”

Mohammed al Ghobari, an independent political analyst, said the overriding purpose of today’s gathering is to put pressure on Mr Saleh.

“The idea was that this dialogue should involve all community groups so as to realistically analyse the situation and suggest solutions. However, it has turned into a congregation for all opponents to the Saleh regime who want to achieve some political gains,” Mr al Ghobari said, adding that he doubts the consultation meeting will be able to achieve a basis for genuine reforms.

“The consultation meeting involves tribal and religious groups that once undermined the project of the socialist party to build a modern state after the unification. Therefore, I do not think these can be a driving force for a real reform to build up a modern state based on law and order as they claim; they simply want their share of the cake,” he added.



malqadhi@thenational.ae