From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Nov 09 2009 - 12:13:49 EST
In Yemen, a Flash of Growth Amid Constant Danger
By <javascript:void(0)> Vivienne Walt / Balhaf
Monday, Nov. 09, 2009
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh flew into the Gulf of Aden on Saturday
to celebrate the first exports of liquefied natural gas from a sprawling
$4.5 billion plant - the biggest ever investment in his otherwise
impoverished desert country. A brass band played and politicians applauded
the gas tanker as it set sail for South Korea, but Saleh's attention was
elsewhere - on the attacks Saudi Arabia's military forces were waging
against antigovernment Shi'ite rebels in the north of Yemen. The rebels "are
trying to demolish the economy," Saleh told TIME, and vowed, "We will crush
them."
Low-level skirmishes between the rebels, called Houthis, and Saudi and Yemen
forces, have dragged on for five years, and indeed the Saudis claim they
successfully cleared the rebels from the border on Sunday. But the conflict
has rapidly intensified during the past week, since, according to the
Saudis, the Houthis crossed into Saudi Arabia and killed a Saudi officer,
leading Saudi Arabia to send fighter jets to bomb Houthi territory last
Thursday. Suddenly a lingering battle threatens to turn into a wider
conflict, potentially drawing in Iran, the region's biggest Shi'ite power.
Saleh says he suspects Iran is already involved. "They want to follow the
system of Iran," he said of the rebels. "It is impossible. Our people are
one people." Using his public speech at the ceremony, Saleh told the crowd,
"There will be no compromise or cease-fire until we finish the jihad."
<http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1925334,00.html> (See TIME's
photos of conflict in Yemen.)
Saleh talks tough about the rebels, but last week's battle is just one of
many security problems for a government struggling to maintain control over
its large, underdeveloped territory at the southwestern edge of the Arabian
Peninsula. Saleh, 67, who has ruled for 31 years, faces not only northern
rebels, but hostile groups in the south who have fought violent battles for
autonomy, and extremists tied to al-Qaeda. As Yemen's security crumbles,
militants find it easier to operate, according to the risk consultancy
Eurasia Group in a research note last Thursday. "The Yemen-based al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula is establishing more sophisticated infrastructure in
Yemen," the report said. "A collapse or severe weakening of the Yemeni state
would likely send millions of refugees into Saudi Arabia, threatening
stability there."
<http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1928780,00.html> (See TIME's
pictures of Saudi women.)
Even in the capital, Sana'a, there were high-profile killings of foreigners
earlier this year, and a suicide attack against the U.S. embassy in 2008.
When executives from the French energy giant Total, which built the new
Balhaf gas plant, opted to go sightseeing in Sana'a's ancient quarter after
the inauguration ceremony on Saturday, they drove through the city in a
police-led convoy.
The mounting hostility to Westerners is one reason Total opted to hire
thousands of Yemenis to construct its new natural-gas facility, despite the
fact that most needed extensive training. The company says Yemenis comprised
about 70% of the 11,000 or so people who built the project. Total even
negotiated separately with each of 22 tribes through which the pipeline
travels in order to avoid angering locals.
At full capacity, the port is expected to export about 6.7 million tons a
year of liquefied natural gas to Asia, Europe and the U.S., earning between
$30 billion and $50 billion for Yemen's government over the next 25 years.
That's an attention-getting number for any economy. Another
attention-grabbing figure is 500. That's the number of Yemeni soldiers hired
to guard the heavily fenced facility and pipeline. Because in a country as
unstable as Yemen, any symbol of progress is also a constant target.
<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1936554,00.html#ixzz0WNndGR7o
>
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1936554,00.html#ixzz0WNndGR7o
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