'Al-Qa'idah' Brings Billions to Yemen

2010-01-28
The London meeting to discuss the deteriorating situations in Yemen in which more than 20 countries took part represented by their foreign ministers lasted only two hours which means one of two things. The first is that the Yemeni dossier is not as much complicated as many think and the second is that the sponsor country, Britain, has prepared the steps that need to be taken, in coordination with Washington, and the participants -and the Arab ones among them in particular -need only to "agree" and implementation will follow without any discussion.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr al-Qirbi said the conferees achieved in two hours what could not be achieved in days at other conferences and that the decisions taken met the Yemeni demands for economic development and underlined the "partnership" process between Yemen and its fiends, as if he was responding to some derisive comments which concentrated on the conference's short time period.

Mrs Hillary Clinton was more clear and frank than her Yemeni counterpart when she linked the economic support funds to several conditions, among them the economic reforms, the fight against corruption, protection of human rights, and consolidation of the rule of law. The implementation of all these provisions needs a total change in Yemen, a change of regime and of the tribal popular structure from its roots.

The state of Yemen remained marginalized all these past years and the overwhelming majority of Europeans and Americans probably were not aware of its existence to say nothing about its geographic location. But the picture was reversed totally and this state became the headlines in newspapers and television bulletins. And the magic word: "Al-Qa'idah" organization and Nigerian youth Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who stayed in its territories for few weeks before his failed attempt to bomb an American plane over Detroit during Christmas celebrations.

The Yemenis - who have been occupying the last place on the list of poor Arab countries for decades -never stopped shouting, both government and people, seeking help from their rich Gulf neighbours or Western donor countries. But no one responded to them. More than that, their poverty and hunger increased because of a drop in their oil exports, the main source of revenues, from 70 to 50 per cent, the explosive population growth with its resulting unemployment, collapse of services, and spread of illiteracy.

The arrival of "Al-Qa'idah" organization in Yemen has paradoxically solved the problem of the country's isolation and neglect and increased the international interest in it and the allocation of billions to save it from its poverty. This might prompt other peoples in the Muslim world suffering from poverty, hunger, and dictatorship to think of sending an official invitation to Shaykh Usamah Bin-Ladin, the organization's leader, to open a branch in their countries so that they can end their miserable living conditions and turn the world's eyes towards their complaints in the hope that financial aid will flow to them and the United States and its Western allies will impose the democratic reforms and rule of law on their regimes in exchange for removing the organization from their territories.

"Al-Qa'idah" organization can reach temporary agreements according to timeframes that are agreed upon with the oppressed Arab and Muslim peoples so that they can obtain aid and get rid of the dictatorial regimes after which the organization leaves for another country once the aim of the contract has been achieved and opens a new branch there under a new agreement.

It is difficult for us to judge the extent of the success of the London conference in achieving its objectives of confronting Al-Qa'idah and eliminating its dangers through military means, achieving the economic reforms, and imposing the political reforms for uprooting poverty, unemployment, and the injustice suffered by the Yemeni people so as not to provide a safe haven for Al-Qa'idah in their country. Other decisions and agreements were made behind closed doors, specifically at the military level, and their substance we do not know.

What we do know well, by virtue of our past and present experiences as Arabs and Muslims, is that the United States turned every country in which it intervened militarily into a failed state where civil or sectarian wars and financial and moral corruption reign supreme. We have in Iraq and Afghanistan some examples and additional ones in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The Americans went to Iraq without knowing its human demography and sectarian complexities and launched war on Afghanistan without studying its history and its human or geographical map and the results in both cases were catastrophic.

They are now repeating the same mistake in Yemen and the most notable evidence of this is not Mrs Clinton's demand for democracy and wise leadership but for equality between the sexes in Yemen. Is there more ignorance of this country, its customs, tribalism, and social map than this?

Al-Qirbi said in press statements before the London conference that his government would never allow a "veiled" American military intervention in Yemen while the American "New York Times" newspaper, which has close links to the American decision makers, is asserting that American forces are taking part effectively in the military operations against Al-Qa'idah's concentrations in Yemen. Who do we believe: The Yemeni minister or the American newspaper?

Western governments do not give billions for free and quite often dictate their conditions to the others who must offer obedience and loyalty without argument. We do not believe that these governments, and the American one in particular, will remain spectators and rely on the Yemeni forces to deal alone with Al-Qa'idah dossier, forces that failed to crush a small insurgency by the Huthists in Sa'dah over the past four years.

Shaykh Sadiq Abdallah al-Ahmar, the chief leader of Hashid tribes, or the ruling party's tribe in Yemen, chaired a meeting the day before yesterday by the tribal leaders and clerics in Sanaa before the London conference. He remarkably warned this conference against coming out with a new "Sykes-Picot" agreement that fragments and rips Yemen apart and pledged to declare jihad against any American military intervention in his country. It was not a coincidence that he was sitting next to Shaykh Abd-al-Majid al-Zindani, the top leader of salafism in Yemen who is wanted by the United States because of his blatant hostility to it and to its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Yemeni Government in Sanaa has achieved some of its goals from the London conference, that is, obtained funds and wrested an American-international commitment to strengthen unity and safeguard Yemeni sovereignty. But it has become in return a government under direct American mandate and swimming in the network of American projects in the region as the spearhead in the wars against Al-Qa'idah organization and probably other wars against Iran if it did not yield to the conditions imposed on it and get rid of its nuclear aspirations.

It was noticed that Mrs Hillary Clinton announced at the same press conference that the war in Sa'dah was over and that there is now a good chance for focusing on the war against "Al-Qa'idah." Is it a coincidence that this war should stop or recede only few days before the London conference?

This conference raises many question marks about the future of Yemen and the Western and Arab role in it. We might see answers whose mysteries are unravelled in the coming months or years but it is quite clearly obvious to us now is that the American military, security, and financial intervention in Yemen is not going to have better luck that its counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US administrations have been fighting Al-Qa'idah organization and Taleban Movement for nine years and yet have not achieved any noticeable success. In fact, this war strengthened the two organizations and increased their danger. Even the other London conference which starts today to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, will focus on how to negotiate with Taleban and include it in the government in one way or another.

US intervention in Yemen might not provide the required protection for the United States from Al-Qa'idah's attacks which its leader threatened to resume in his latest recording even if it examined the posteriors of all Arab women and men at its airport. But there is only one certain thing, namely, any US intervention will not achieve stability in Yemen though it will safeguard its unity as a failed state where troubles pervade all its areas.