THE CITY OF TAIZ: WILL THE PHOENIX RISE AGAIN?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SANAA 002463

SIPDIS

STATE -- PASS TO USTDA MERCEDES FITCHETT.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SENV SOCI YM AORCYM ECON COM
SUBJECT: THE CITY OF TAIZ: WILL THE PHOENIX RISE AGAIN?


1. Summary: DCM visited the city of Taiz, the third largest
city in Yemen to open bids for the the US Trade and
Development Agency (USTDA)-funded wastewater system project
and to meet with civic, NGO, and business leaders on August

8. Taiz stand on the shoulders of trained and passionate
NGO, business, and community leaders; this small but strong
concentration of leaders struggles and yet succeeds to build
Taiz's community.

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Women's Rights: Controversy on the Long and Difficult Road
Ahead for Yemeni Women
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2. DCM met with Suad AlQadasi, the Director of Women's Forum
for Research and Training (WFRT) in Taiz. Established in
1999, WFRT has already become one of the leaders in women's
NGO development in Yemen; five staff members support the
various outreach, development, and project efforts of 13
affiliated NGOs. WFRT stands apart from other women's
groups with a demonstrated willingness to tackle taboo
subjects in Yemeni society and challenge the community and
the government to become more involved with women's rights.


3. WFRT believes advancements in women's rights will come
about as a byproduct of democratic reform. Toward this end,
WFRT created a committee of influential religious leaders and
legislators in Yemen, some of whom are dedicated supporters
of women's rights. One of the imams wrote and produced a
publication in support of women's rights which garnered
strong objections from other leaders and parts of the
community. Other members of the community read his writing
and are slowly trending toward support of these religious
arguments. In grass roots actions like these, the women's
rights movement in Yemen will gain small but growing impact
in the community.


4. Along with other women's groups' leaders in Yemen, WFRT
established the Simple Women Court House in which WFRT
analyzed the law, investigated government officials, and
issued symbolic verdicts against the government. On its web
site (www.wfrt.net),WFRT published the verdict as well as
their demands for greater support of women's rights. The
WFRT continues its passionate work through two current major
research projects on violence against women and on children's
sexual exploitation and trafficking.


5. Using a variety of communication methods, WFRT reaches
out and educates the community on issues such as domestic
violence. Its website is one of the most thorough and
current NGO websites in Yemen with English and Arabic
translations of legislation, research reports, newsletters,
and other publications. Due to budget constraints, WFRT does
not at present distribute publications by mail; WFRT does
distribute educational and information materials to six
governorates by contracting taxi drivers to deliver the
materials for distribution by staff in each governorate.


6. WFRT is committed to reaching out to the young people and
to the international community. WFRT works with the Civic
Education Center in California as well as other centers in
Jordan and Tunisia. In addition, WFRT established "The Ideal
Village" in Alturba District in Taiz that encouraged men and
women to form a village council and solve their problems by
voting democratically. WFRT also met educational leaders in
Taiz and discussed ways to uncover mistakes in textbooks and
to improve upon teaching methods, encouraging the population
to set and achieve goals in their lives. Through a local
school competition, it encourages students to conduct
research on issues such as the government's recent removal of
the petroleum subsidy. The students evaluate the
government's policy, suggeste alternatives, and design an
action plan for themselves. By studying these facets of
government policy, students learn to identify problems in
society, investigate all the relevant issues, and find
solutions. Public school
students submitted more than 3000 project ideas; of these,
the selected winners will go to Amman to demonstrate their
projects.


7. The DCM discussed the Embassy's support for women's
rights. The Embassy meets with Muslim scholars and Members
of Parliament to discuss women's and children's issues and
provides grants for various projects like the Children's
Parliament. The DCM invited WFRT to come to Sanaa for
further discussions and cooperation on some of the issues
with Embassy staff.

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Concern of the Governorate of Taiz: Water, Local Councils,
and Unemployment
--------------


8. DCM met with Mohamed Ahmed Al-Haj, the Deputy Governor
and the General Secretary of Taiz to discuss the issues of
chronic water shortage, the local council's cooperation with
the central government, and the rate of unemployment. AlHaj
thanked the DCM for paying considerable time and effort on
the water problem in Taiz and the subsequent USTDA-funded
wastewater management and recycling project. He believes
that Taiz has potential as a tourist destination and yet
concern over water shortages stymie discussions with
international companies looking to construct tourist
developments in Taiz. For example, the Hayel Saeed Group,
the largest business conglomerate in Yemen, considered moving
their base of operations from Taiz to the Lahj Province due
to the ongoing water shortages. However, they recently
renewed their commitment to stay in Taiz and to that end,
will bring water from sea by building a desalination water
station in the port city of Mokha, more than 150 kilometers
away from and 3000 feet down to
sea level from the mountainous area of Taiz.


9. AlHaj believes the upcoming Local Council elections will
be more competitive than in years past, drawing upon a more
educated and skilled pool of candidates for the elections.
As the General Secretary of the Local Council, he finds the
Local Council is a positive link to the tribal ways of
governance and encourages cooperation with the central
government. In its healthy relationship with the central
government, the Local Council feels the pulse of the
populace, estimates the needs of the community, negotiates
municipal budgets with the central government, and monitors
the progress of subsequent projects.


10. In regards to the Local Council elections, DCM urged the
journalists present as well as the leadership to support
transparency in media coverage of the upcoming elections and
to hold debates among candidates so that each candidate and
party announces their agenda and projects to the general
public.


11. Despite being in the capable hands of Taiz's business
and political leaders, Taiz labors under decreasing
commercial prospects coupled with the high population rate
common in Yemen. Only fifteen years ago, as the capital of
former North Yemen, it was once a strong center of commerce
where one of the largest business conglomerates in the Gulf
was founded. Today, it struggles to regain the attention and
aid once showered by international donors and companies in
its commercial, economic development, and community
development sectors. (NOTE: The population of Taiz city
reaches 700, 000 people while the population of the greater
governorate hovers around 3 million people. End note.) A
high level of unemployment in the city and the greater
governorate causes many inhabitants to migrate to other
governorates. The growth rate of the city is significantly
lower than in the other major cities in Yemen: Mukulla,
Sanaa, Aden, Hodeidah.


12. DCM explained that the Embassy's interests in Taiz's
economic development; he envisions it as a center of
business, potential tourist sites, and education achievement
and hopes that the wastewater management project would
support further progress on this front.

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US Grants Half-Million USD of Support for Wastewater
Management in Taiz
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13. Taiz suffers from chronic water issues and in past
visits by the Ambassador, DCM, and Econ/Commoff, Taiz's
leaders repeatedly requested assistance to alleviate this
dire situation. For that purpose, USTDA agreed to fund a
half-million dollar feasibility study in cooperation with the
World Bank (WB). Currently farmers are "stealing" untreated
storm water and wastewater that runs off into local earthen
pits for their irrigation needs. To provide treated water
and to alleviate further pollution of the brackish water
table, this US-WB project will outline a plan to treat and
recycle the wastewater for other uses like agriculture.


14. DCM presented the bids to Deputy Governor AlHaj and
Thabet AlHoot, the General Manager of Taiz Water Authority.
In the presence of press and the public, the proposals were
opened, the names announced aloud, and processed for the
selection committee. DCM hopes this tender is just the
beginning of more transparent tenders in Yemen. AlHoot noted
that the current project is the talk of the town and that the
people Taiz feel optimistic about the Americans' support of
their city and the transparency of the tender.


15. DCM highlighted the fact that as the World Bank would
finance the resulting construction, this is a rare but
welcome partnership between an international agency and a
foreign donor in Yemen. He expressed his hope that more
development of this nature would be financed by private
investors as the business community takes a greater role in
the community. He encouraged a new, innovative vision for
development in Taiz with a partnership between private and
government sectors to help reducing unemployment and
gradually improve Taiz's economic situation.

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Business Leaders at the Taiz Chamber of Commerce
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16. DCM met with the Taiz Chamber of Commerce and Industry
and Deputy Chairman Showki Hayel Saeed, a scion of the Hayel
Saeed family and its business conglomerate. He noted that
during his last meeting with the Chamber in March, they
discussed the dire water situation in Taiz. He was glad to
report the successful start of the USTDA-funded wastewater
management project earlier in the day. He reiterated his
hope that new proposals and projects would be financed by
private investors like the leaders of the Chamber. Such
projects in Taiz city would help reduce unemployment and
gradually improve the economic situation.


17. He also introduced new concepts for Yemen, specifically,
recycling solid garbage/waste as a for-profit venture.
Recalling his work in Morocco, DCM reported that a USTDA
grant provided an opportunity for businesses to invest their
money in a project to recycle solid garbage for power
generation and electricity. Part of the project also
provided for the separation and recyling of plastic and glass
components. Another concept he promoted was water
desalination stations for this water-dry region; he offered
the possibility of US government assistance with feasibility
studies and technical assistance.


18. DCM implored the business leaders not to give up, saying
that businessmen in Morocco sold vegetables and fish to the
US. Shipping and marketing problems could be overcome via
studies, reverse trade missions, and joint ventures with US
companies.


19. Deputy Chairman Showki Hayel Saeed noted that Taiz
population is migrating to other governorates. He said, "the
Governor's Office and the Chamber were fortunate to have the
World Bank's efforts on the serious problems of water
shortage, electricity, and sewage in Taiz. Nonetheless, we
are losing about 40 to 45 percent of the total water volume
for human consumption on daily basis. Today's water proposal
is useful but a temporary solution. Next September, the
Government will provide some financial support for the
September 26 National Day celebration and we will take
advantage of the money to make new important projects for the
city."


20. He continued, "I urge and encourage private investors to
invest on Solid Waste as the DCM said, because if we invest
well, the process would result in generating power and it
could result in gold (high profit). Due to the high volume
of waste garbage, we can establish a successful project like
in Cairo or Morocco, and such projects would reduce
unemployment and poverty.


21. "I suggest to Yemeni businessmen to conduct marketing
segmentation and identification of customers. US goods and
products have strong durability and I have US machines in my
factories, which were bought in 1974 and are still working
fine. I encourage all of you to do business partnership with
US companies."


22. Mufid Abdo Said, the GM of Taiz Chamber of Commerce,
stated that the Chamber needs to reestablish the strong
relationship with USAID which they enjoyed from the 1980s
until 1991 when USAID pulled out of Yemen due to Gulf War
security concerns. He highlighted the need for technical
assistance on conducting feasibility studies. Noting that
feasibility studies could cost as much as 10 percent of a
project, many small and medium businesses in Yemen do not
invest their money on a brand new project due to the high
cost of conducting a feasibility study. He would like to
train Chamber of Commerce teams to conduct feasibility
studies. In the 1980s, USAID provided technical assistance
on the subject by putting instructions and guidelines on more
than 8000 cassettes. He requested help with similar
approaches to benefit the small and medium-size businesses.


23. He mentioned that the US-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce
receives 20 percent of the US government aid annually and
gives it to medium-size businesses as soft loans. He
suggested that this might be a good practice for Yemen as
well.

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Human Rights Center and the Broader Middle East and North
Africa (BMENA) Initiative
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24. DCM discussed the work of human rights training and
networking with Ezzaldeen Alasbahi, the Director of The Human
Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC) in Taiz, a
center first established in 1996. AlAsbahi tries to link
between civil and tribal societies and with this effort,
HRITC trained police officers, journalists, and teachers to
resolve conflicts peacefully through a seminar called "Stop
the Circulation and Misuse of Small Arms." He also worked
with the Ministry of Planning and Media to fight terrorism by
stopping corruption, noting that the spread of arms is a
result of the spread of bribery and corruption.


25. HRITC has activities in other parts of the Middle East
and works in close partnership with BMENA and NID. On
September 19 and 20, HRITC will conduct a conference in Sanaa
with the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD); many regional
representatives from countries of the Middle East and North
Africa will be present. The goal is to present a unified
stand for the human rights organizations in the Middle East
and provide a common message and position to government
officials in any Middle Eastern country.
Krajeski