July 18, 2014: While the continuing violence grabs most of the headlines
what concerns most Yemenis is poverty and starvation. Most of the population
is very poor and 40 percent are hungry and dependent on food handouts from
the government or foreign aid organizations. This is all a side effect of
the oil boom to the north (especially in Saudi Arabia). Over the last fifty
years the population has quadrupled because of all the additional cash and
jobs spilling over into Yemen from the wealthy Arab oil states. But Yemen
has little oil, few other sources of income and too many people for the
available food supply. Poverty and hunger are behind all the other problems
Yemen has with lawlessness, Islamic terrorism and unstable government.
A major malignant side effect of the oil wealth has been the skyrocketing
demand for the leaves of the Khat plant. This destroyed the economy and
fueled growing violence in Yemen along with causing a devastating water
shortage. Most of the water consumed is used for growing Khat, which only
contributes a few percent of the GDP. Khat is a plant that has grown in
Yemen for thousands of years. Khat leaves when chewed give you more of a
buzz than caffeine or nicotine, but less than stronger drugs. It is
addictive and until the 1950s was grown by farmers for their own personal
use as a stimulant. Khat was used like that long before anyone figured out
how to use coffee beans to produce a stimulating liquid. One thing that kept
Khat local was the fact that the leaves quickly lose (a few days after being
picked) their potency. In other words, Khat did not travel well while coffee
beans and tea leaves did. That all changed after World War II when roads,
trucks and air transport became widely available. Suddenly Khat had an
international market for those who could afford to pay and had a taste for
it.
Yemen was the one Khat growing area that was close to affluent Khat
consumers; namely people in the Arab oil states of the Persian Gulf. The
other area where Khat grew easily was Ethiopia, which was deep in Africa
surrounded by poverty and far from anyone able to pay for Khat. Yemen was
the only Arabian state without a lot of oil but with the largest population.
Khat was suddenly a way to make a lot of money.
Despite the fact that many nations (including most of those in the Middle
East) outlawed Khat (because of its unfortunate side effects, especially the
addiction) the stuff was very popular with those who grew up with it. This
included many people in Yemen. With all that oil wealth came a demand in the
Arab oil states for workers. The pay was good and Arabs were preferred. This
led to millions of Yemenis going off to the Arab Gulf States to work. Some
got rich and nearly all sent money home. So much money was being sent back
that by the end of the 20th century such remittances comprised over a
quarter of the Yemeni GDP. That began to shrink after Iraq invaded Kuwait in
1990 and threatened Saudi Arabia. Many Yemenis backed Iraq and Islamic
terrorism and the Arab oil states took this as an unfriendly act and fired a
lot of their Yemeni employees. It did not go unnoticed that the bin Laden
family came from Yemen and made their fortune in Saudi Arabia. These days
the remittances are less than four percent of GDP. But before the collapse
in remittance income during the last two decades many Yemenis developed a
taste for Khat, and so had many Saudis, even though Khat was illegal in
Saudi Arabia. Thus the demand for Khat increased, but mainly for export.
Khat has created another problem; the importation of powerful and often
forbidden insecticides, to facilitate the growing of more Khat. Since the
Khat leaves are chewed, using too much, or too poisonous (to humans)
insecticide makes the users sick. Many Khat growers are more concerned with
producing more Khat than they are in keeping their customers healthy. The
Yemeni government is struggling to keep illegal insecticides out of the
country, if only to prevent Yemeni Khat users from getting sick. Just as
Colombia and Afghanistan were thrown into chaos by major drug gangs
(producing cocaine and heroin, respectively) Yemen is being brought low by
Khat. It is all low key and generally off the mass media radar, but it is
very real.
July 16, 2014: In central Yemen (Baida province) a drive by shooting at a
police base left two policemen dead and one wounded. The two vehicles sped
away before return fire could do much damage. The attackers were believed to
be al Qaeda, which has long been active in the province.
July 14, 2014: North of the capital Shia tribal rebels battled
pro-government tribesmen over the weekend. There were over a hundred
casualties and at least 35 dead. The rebels were trying to seize a hill
overlooking the main airport but were blocked by the Sunni tribesmen.
July 12, 2014: President Hadi fired two generals responsible for many of the
recent military defeats. General Makdishi, who commanded forces in the city
of Amran (50 kilometers north of the capital) was dismissed because Shia
rebels had briefly taken control of Amran. Also fired was general Somali,
who commanded forces in the southeastern province of Hadramout. Troops down
there have been having a difficult time dealing with increased Islamic
terrorist activity so the government is seeing if a new commander will make
a difference. The situation in Hadramout is particularly serious because it
appears al Qaeda is concentrating there and attempting to rebuild. After
several army offensives against Islamic terrorists since 2012 the Islamic
terrorists are much weaker and many of the southern tribes are no longer
willing to host the Islamic terrorists, especially since so many of them are
foreigners. The tribes in Hadramout are less bothered by that and very angry
at the government. So this year many of the foreign Islamic terrorists
coming to Yemen have headed for Hadramout to support the growing terrorist
violence there.
July 11, 2014: For the first time since May irate tribesmen bombed the
pipeline to the Red Sea, halting the flow of 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
This is the source of much needed income for the government. Normally Yemen
produces 270,000 barrels of oil a day and most of it is exported
(accounting, with natural gas, 90 percent of export income). The 320
kilometer long pipeline extends from oil fields in Marib province to the Red
Sea export terminal. Such attacks cost the government a billion dollars in
lost revenue in 2013. Tribesmen loyal to deposed president Saleh are often
blamed. President Hadi caused some bad feeling in Marib when he cut cash
payments going to pro-Saleh tribal leaders and instead gave it to those he
trusted more. The tribesmen who lost out responded in the traditional way,
by attacking the assets of those they saw as responsible; namely the oil
fields and pipelines. AQAP has been popular in Marib because the Islamic
terrorists will hire local tribesmen and promise a larger share of gas and
oil income for the local tribes once AQAP takes control of the country.
Shia rebels agreed to withdraw from the city of Amran, to avoid the losses
they would incur dealing with an army counterattack. The army was bringing
forces to the city outskirts and preparing to fight their way in.
July 10, 2014: Because oil revenue was down more than a third so far this
year the government announced a number of economy measures including a
hiring freeze and cuts in non-payroll expenses (travel, fuel and supplies in
general). The money is just not there. Foreign aid donors are pressuring the
government cut oil and electricity subsidies which consume 30 percent of
government income.
July 8, 2014: Shia rebels seized control of the city of Amran (population
120,000) north of the capital. The army garrison panicked and fled. Over a
quarter of the population fled as well and local Sunni tribal militias came
and fought the Shia gunmen in the city. In the next few days over a hundred
died because of this violence. The government revealed that so far this
month it believed 290 had died in the north (50 soldiers and 240 Shia
tribesmen). In addition at least fifty civilians have died.
July 7, 2014: In the south (Abyan province) Islamic terrorists ambushed an
army vehicle, killing two soldiers and then fleeing taking at least one
casualty of their own with them.
July 6, 2014: In the north Shia and Sunni tribesmen clashed leaving at least
35 dead.
July 5, 2014: Air force aircraft bombed Shia rebels north of the capital.
July 4, 2014: In the north Shia rebels accuse the army of breaking the June
23rd truce by advancing. The Shia rebels fired on the soldiers.
In the southeastern province of Hadramout a drive by shooting left a senior
air force officer dead.
On the Saudi border a suicide car bomb went off at the Yemeni checkpoint,
killing the driver and a Yemeni soldier. Then two other cars driven by
Islamic terrorists sped towards the Saudi checkpoint, killed four Saudi
border guards and fled the area. The Saudis eventually caught up with these.
In the end five of the six attackers died and one was captured. All were
wanted by the Saudis for Islamic terrorism and trying to get back into Saudi
Arabia to carry out attacks.
July 3, 2014: In central Yemen (Baida province) Islamic terrorists attacked
a government compound. Two attackers were killed and three soldiers wounded.
The surviving attackers fled.
In the last two days tribal feuds (over land or religion) left at least 29
dead during three separate incidents.
July 2, 2014: The government revealed that during the first six months of
the year 374 soldiers and police died fighting Islamic terrorists (and
tribesmen allied with them) in the south and Shia rebels in the north.
During the same period 17 intelligence officers were assassinated in the
south, in a deliberate al Qaeda effort to cripple government information
gathering efforts. Over 500 Islamic terrorists, tribal rebels and civilians
also died.
June 29, 2014: Saudi Arabia is pressuring the Yemen government to do
something about the illegal arms trade. Yemen has long been the largest
source of illegal weapons in the region. Yemeni governments have long
tolerated it as long as the dealers paid officials well and provided
information on who was buying what. Nevertheless the arms trade has been the
source of so many deaths in Yemen because the population is heavily armed.
Nearly every household, and adult male, has a firearm. The Saudis are also
heavily armed but the government their keeps better track of civilian
firearms and is concerned with the growing efforts by Yemeni smugglers to
bring unregistered weapons into Saudi Arabia. These are meant for criminals
and Islamic terrorists. The Saudis had recently seized over 300 illegal
pistols from smugglers and the smugglers are often heavily armed and willing
to shoot it out with border police. Yemeni officials tend to say they will
deal with the issue but never do.
June 28, 2014: In the southeastern province of Hadramout Islamic terrorist
violence in the last three days has left 21 dead. Most of the casualties
were civilians and Islamic terrorists.
June 27, 2014: North of the capital there were clashes between soldiers and
Shia rebels, in violation of the June 23rd ceasefire agreement.
June 25, 2014: In the capital a senior intelligence officers was
assassinated in a drive by shooting. North of the capital 17 civilians died
when fighting between soldiers and Shia rebels led to an artillery shell
hitting a multistory building and causing the structure to collapse on the
people inside.
June 23, 2014: In the north the government and Shia rebels agreed to a
ceasefire.
June 22, 2014: North of the capital 17 policemen were wounded when their
vehicles were ambushed by Shia rebels.