Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SANAA2169
2007-11-29 15:41:00
SECRET
Embassy Sanaa
Cable title:  

DETERIORATING STANDARDS 40 YEARS AFTER SOUTH YEMEN

Tags:  PGOV YM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0014
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHYN #2169/01 3331541
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 291541Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANAA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8479
S E C R E T SANAA 002169 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PGOV YM
SUBJECT: DETERIORATING STANDARDS 40 YEARS AFTER SOUTH YEMEN
INDEPENDENCE

REF: A. SANAA 1656

B. SANAA 1831

C. SANAA 1910

D. SANAA 1856

Classified By: Ambassador Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

S E C R E T SANAA 002169

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PGOV YM
SUBJECT: DETERIORATING STANDARDS 40 YEARS AFTER SOUTH YEMEN
INDEPENDENCE

REF: A. SANAA 1656

B. SANAA 1831

C. SANAA 1910

D. SANAA 1856

Classified By: Ambassador Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Yemen will celebrate the 40th anniversary of
Britain's departure from South Arabia on November 30, before
a backdrop of increasing protests and violence in the South
over perceived injustices and unequal distribution of wealth.
This cable presents a comparison of educational
opportunities, economic opportunities, social freedoms and
security between the three eras in the history of southern
Yemen: the British era, the Socialist era, and the present
day. End Summary.


2. (U) November 30, 2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of
the British departure from the part of Yemen which was
formerly South Arabia. British South Arabia consisted of the
modern governorates of Mahara, Hadramaut, Shabwa, Abyan, Lahj
and Aden, which became the People's Democratic Republic of
Yemen. Since May 2007, post has been watching the
development of protests in south Yemen over discontent with
the ROYG's handling of development and apportionment of
resources and social services. While protests initially
focused on a group of disgruntled retired military and civil
service officers, they were quickly joined by people unhappy
with rising costs, land appropriation, and perceived
injustices and opposition party leadership. On the 40th
anniversary of Independence, it is a fitting time to revisit
South Arabia and see if things are, in perspective, better or
worse.


3. (C) Saadaldeen Talib, a native of Hadramaut and a member
of the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Commission (SNACC),
told PolOff an anecdote about a Hadrami perspective on the
present Yemeni government. (Note: Hadrami is the adjective
form of Hadramaut. Governors in Yemen are appointed by the
President and are not democratically elected. End Note.) The
ROYG governor of Hadramaut was complaining one day to one of
his constituents that the Hadramis were always critical and
mean to him. The constituent replied, "Once we had sultans
in Hadramaut and we criticized them and said terrible things
about them. Then the British came, and we criticized them
and said how much better the sultans were, and how much we

liked the sultans. In time the British left. Then came the
socialists. We criticized the socialists, and said terrible
things about them, and said how much better the British were
and how much more we liked them. Now we have you, governor.
If you would only please leave we will like you much more."

Educational Opportunities
--------------

4. (U) Access to social services in British South Arabia
before independence was varied. Despite the British attempt
to create a federation of southern Arabian states, access to
educational institutions in Aden, which had long been a crown
colony, far exceeded that in the many sultanates and emirates
that Britain had administered as protectorates. In the
western states there were two schools with modern syllabi and
12 in eastern states. Government publications reported some
progress introducing the three "Rs" into religious schools.
Education in Aden was compulsory and according to official
publications there was a place for every child to attend a
government primary or intermediary school. There were three
secondary schools in Aden, one each for boys, girls and coed.
In addition there were three British government service
schools, a Roman Catholic, a Danish, an Indian, and a Jewish
school. Institutions of higher learning included Aden
College, two teacher training institutes, a women's college,
and a technical institute. Additionally, students who
qualified had access to further educational opportunities and
scholarships in India and the UK.


5. (C) After independence, the Socialist government which
eventually took over southern Yemen instituted well supported
campaigns against illiteracy. Education was compulsory and
free for children, and the government tasked neighborhood
Social Committees with ensuring families complied. Elham
Abdul-Wahab, General Director of the Supreme Commission on
Elections and Referenda, a woman and an Adeni, said that
education was free and uniforms, books and other items were
heavily subsidized. As an added incentive, women who
successfully completed their education were guaranteed jobs,
encouraging families to send girls to school. Even in remote
desert, tribal and rural areas schools were established and
education was imposed on the population.


6. (C) In southern Yemen today there is a wide-spread
government school program, which provides education at the
primary and secondary level. Government schools are
available to students, but are not compulsory. Furthermore,

widespread corruption and demand for bribes by teachers and
administrators puts many schools beyond of the income of many
families. (Note: Per capita income in Yemen is roughly two
dollars or four hundred riyals a day. End Note.) Elham
Abdul-Wahab related the tale of her niece, presently enrolled
in a government school in Aden. After a speech by the
Director of the school, the principal requested fifty Yemeni
riyals from each student to buy a present for the Director.
Requests for money from students are a regular occurrence,
and can range from fifty as in the example above to a few
hundred. With little prospects for employment and the hidden
costs of education, many families forgo education, especially
for girls, whose fathers surmise that girls can learn all the
skills they will need for marriage in the home.


7. (C) Compared with 40 years ago, there are many more
schools in southern Yemen, including institutions of higher
learning. Many private universities in Sana'a have campuses
in major southern cities and numerous private universities
and colleges have been established in southern governorates.
The number of educational opportunities, however, has not
kept pace with the population explosion. The population in
Aden in 1964 was roughly fourteen thousand. In 2001 it had
reached five hundred and fifty thousand. National population
estimates say these numbers will almost double by 2010.


8. (C) The quality of education has also suffered. Demand
for qualified teachers has outstretched the available pool of
applicants despite an influx of qualified migrants.
Professor Abdullah al-Faqih, a professor at Sana'a
University, points out that low teachers, salaries require
many teachers to have second jobs. In addition, he said,
political favoritism in staffing of government schools means
jobs go to loyalists, who in many cases ignore their
responsibilities. Al-Faqih complained about one professor
who had a full time job as a member of the Supreme Council on
Elections and Referenda to the detriment of his teaching.


9. (C) Comment: For southern Yemenis, the government's
efforts to address educational opportunities are not
apparent. The vast population boom and influx of northern
Yemenis to the south means that, for the average southern
Yemeni, education is harder to come by than in the past. The
quality of education has deteriorated considerably even since
the doctrinal socialist period. Northern efforts to educate
the youth of Yemen are not sufficient or heart-felt. In the
absence of a transparent government budget process,
Presidential decrees allocate resources to loyalists and
influential people. End Comment.

Economic Opportunities
--------------

10. (U) In the 1950's and 1960,s, economic activity in South
Arabia was vibrant, though it tended to be concentrated in a
few areas. One guidebook from 1964 illustrated this vibrancy
with 105 full pages of advertisements for local businesses
and services. These advertisements included household names
for soft drinks, beer, cigarettes, and local cold storage,
shops, and a number of banks, travel companies and trading
companies. Mukallah according to "Economic and Social
Statistics for 1948" rivaled Aden for economic activity. The
British maintained a no tariff port in Aden and taxes were
only imposed on alcohol, tobacco and petroleum products.
Aden was one of the four busiest ports in the world for the
trans-shipment of crates up through the mid-1960's. Imports
into Aden in 1961 surpassed eighty thousand pounds sterling.
On any given day, seventeen ships docked in Aden harbor and
over five hundred deep-sea going ships called on the port per
month. The colonial government reported oil was a growing
industry. They also reported on fishing and local industry.


11. (U) The British maintained accurate records of deeds of
ownership including, therefore, land. During the socialist
era, businesses and land were nationalized and apportioned
according to need by the government, which owned all means of
production.


12. (C) Today economic opportunities are still abundant in
southern Yemen. There are ventures in fisheries, honey
production, liquefied natural gas, oil, mining (copper and
stone),import and export and particularly tourism. Ten
families dominate the economic scene, with the Hayl Saeed and
Thabet families most active. These families work closely
with the government providing social-service buildings, such
as hospitals and hotels, where the government needs them in
return for lucrative contracts. The Hayl Saeed businesses
run training institutes and practice both local hiring and
equal employment opportunities. Despite these families'
efforts, Adeni unemployment runs at 20% according to a World
Bank report from 2002. (Note: Nationwide unemployment is
estimated to be currently 40%. End Note.) Many people remain
untouched by economic development. After unification, the
Saleh administration inherited southern government holdings,

including the majority of lands and businesses. SNACC member
Saadaldeen Talib told PolOff that the Saleh administration
still maintains ownership of much of this land, and
apportions it out to northern loyalists, often with
southerner tenants already in place. He added that many
southerners do not own the homes they live in or the farms
they tend. At a social event, PolOff asked an assembly of
senior government and opposition figures if any of the
beneficiaries of land and companies have invested in the
properties they were given or tried to improve the standard
of production from these holdings. The assembled Yemeni
dignitaries replied that these beneficiaries had not, because
since their wealth and future livelihood depended on their
standing with Saleh, they had no incentive to do anything
with their holdings.


13. (C) The ROYG promoted the Aden "Free Zone" on two visits
by PolOff to the south. ROYG Free Zone authorities claimed
the reason success has been just outside of reach is due to
the lack of a 'flagship' international company. However, an
Embassy contact and businessman in Aden told EmbOff that
doing business in the Free Zone is more expensive than
outside because of the level of graft demanded by
authorities.


14. (C) Basha Bashraheel is editor of the independent
al-Ayaam newspaper and a member of an established Adeni
family. (Note: Ali Mohammed Bashraheel was identified as
editor and owner of "The Recorder," an English Language
Weekly in Aden in 1954. Members of the Bashraheel family
were in the Consultative Council during the British rule of
Aden. End Note.) He told PolOff that the Saleh administration
purposely closed Adeni businesses in favor of businesses in
Sana'a. He also retold how northern forces following the
1994 civil war destroyed a state-of-the-art German built beer
brewery in Aden when they occupied the city.


15. (C) Comment: While economic opportunities exist in
southern Yemen, the richest Yemenis do not often take
advantage, preferring to invest overseas. They are unsure of
the security of economic investments in Yemen and flee the
high cost of establishing a Yemeni business. Government
corruption and meddling in economic affairs hampers the
growth of entrepreneurs. The large oligarchic trading
families have the money to succeed in Yemen's corrupt
corridors of power, but prefer to amass wealth without
shaking up the status quo or opening opportunities to new
businesses. A diplomat with long experience in Yemen
remarked to PolOff that these businessmen do not need to
bribe customs officials because they are in favor with the
President's inner circle. They are not advocates for a free
market economy. Government mismanagement of land in southern
Yemen further dampens economic activity and is the cause of
much unrest and disaffection. End Comment.

Social Freedoms
--------------

16. (U) Social freedoms in British controlled South Arabia
differed between Aden and the other regions. Eastern and
western South Arabia were administered by local potentates
until 1963, and social policies were influenced by the whims
of these leaders, who might vacillate from religious to
secular, open minded to xenophobic. In Aden, however, social
freedoms abounded. Aden was a cosmopolitan city with a
population in 1964 comprised of European (4,000 capita),
Indian (16,000 capita),Somali (11,000 capita),Jewish (800
capita),Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese and American (2,600
capita) communities. While a 1964 guidebook advised visiting
women against wearing trousers, shorts or baring shoulders,
it also discussed &ripples of change8 in women's attitudes
and rights. (Note: There were 250,000 visitors to Aden in

1964. End Note.) A group of young women, some of whom were
educated in the West, mounted a protest with their families,
approval and marched to various locations in Aden without the
usual Arab tribal black head and body covering. (Note:
Family support is accounted for, in that the young women were
accompanied on their march by male relatives. Covering for
women on the Arabian Peninsula can generally be divided into
three levels. The 'abaya' is a long cloak that covers the
shoulders, arms and legs. The 'hijab' is a covering over the
head especially the hair. Lastly the 'nikab' is a covering
for the face. A hijab can be worn without abaya or nikab,
but an abaya is rarely worn without a hijab and the nikab
wouldn't be worn without the hijab and abaya. End Note.) In
1964 women increasingly ventured out of doors in Western
clothing with or without hijab. A picture of Aden's Woman's
Society from 1963 shows a group of twenty young Adeni women
in knee length skirts and without hijab, abaya or nikab.


17. (C) Elham Abdul-Wahab said that during the socialist
regime in southern Yemen women were, along with Tunisians, in
the forefront of the women's rights and gender equality
movement in the Arab world. She continued to say that in

accordance with socialist teachings, women participated fully
in society, were granted full participation in governing
bodies and education, and did not cover. The family status
law gave women the right to choose their marriage partner,
and equal division of property after divorce or death.
During both British rule and socialist rule, night clubs and
alcohol were available as a personal choice. Intermingling
of the sexes was commonplace. Public settings were not
segregated. However, political expression was curtailed,
according to Elham, one of whose brothers was killed in the
time of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen for his
political views.


18. (C) In 2007, women in the South find their social
freedoms increasingly reined in. The family status law was
superseded in favor of more traditional northern tribal
customs. Elham said women do not have any of the rights they
had under the family status law. Adenis informed PolOff that
following the unification and after the civil war, women were
attacked and raped by security forces for not veiling with no
repercussions for the attackers. Today women in Aden wear
hijab, nikab and abaya. A BBC report on the status of women
told the story of a middle aged Adeni woman who had always
received the support of her family and ex-husband to be a
career woman. The woman in the report said women today in
Aden would find it hard to get that kind of support from
their families. Women in Aden still have a higher level of
literacy than in other parts of Yemen, a residual effect of
British and socialist policies.


19. (C) Comment: Social freedoms have been seriously
curtailed in southern Yemen. An influx of northerners, with
poorer education and more traditional tribal views, have
brought a conservative attitude to women's rights. Lack of
educational and economic opportunities increasingly relegate
women's roles to the home. End Comment.

Security
--------------

20. (C) British accounts of security in South Arabia reflect

the independence movement and its choice to resort to
violence to achieve its aims. Violent reaction to British
attempts to create the Federation of South Arabia, in
expectation of their eventual departure, further colored
their perception of security. Tribesmen, unaccustomed to
British rule of law, shot at British convoys and outposts in
areas which were formerly controlled by tribes, sultans and
emirs. Elham Abdul-Wahab said that the British provided rule
of law and basic security despite the independence movement.
Violence was not random and independence fighters targeted
British military targets. She said women could in the 1960's
go out at night alone, and return home after midnight without
harassment and unharmed. Elham said that although her father
and brothers were members of the independence movement the
British colonial government allowed them to express their
political views freely so long as they weren't caught in
violent opposition. It was not until after independence that
one of her brothers was killed for his political views.


21. (S) The Embassy has been tracking increased violence and
protests in southern Yemen throughout 2007. Protesters
report security forces have used increasing levels of
indiscriminate harassment, pulling people out of buses
whole-scale, firing on unarmed civilians, stranding them in
the desert, and arresting opposition figures on trumped up
charges and holding them indefinitely. In ref A, B, and C,
post has reported on the violence in southern Yemen. Attacks
on pipelines and ROYG reports of suspected al-Qaida activity
point to terrorist activities in Abyan and Aden governorates.
Demonstrations have occurred daily since September. Though
protests receive only occasional media coverage, an Embassy
contact and member of the Maritime Affairs Authority in Aden
told EmbOff that on November 22, approximately 20,000 people
protested in Yafa'a, Lahj. He said the government has
already arrested twenty perceived trouble makers in Abyan on
trumped up charges to keep them in detention until after the
celebrations on November 30. (Note: The ROYG will be holding
official celebrations on November 30 to mark the national
holiday of southern Yemen Independence. End Note.) The
Embassy contact said protests organizers plan to hold
unofficial celebrations, for which they have not requested
permits per government requirements (ref B and D). The
Embassy contact said people are expected to converge on Aden.


22. (C) Comment: Embassy contacts in two recent
conversations reported that southern discontent has reached a
point of demanding a restoration of "southern pride." This
reaches beyond mediation over concrete issues. If "southern
pride" is at stake, the ROYG has few options to address
grievances. Demands for a redistribution of resources
(especially oil, much of which flows through southern
governorates and out ports in the South) will likely fall on
deaf ears, because these resources help to prop up the Saleh

regime, paying off influential people in the administration.
Land and employment, likewise, are not easily reapportioned
to southerners. Attempts by protesters to be in Aden on
November 30 will be countered by security forces who will
block off the city, detain travelers and, as has happened in
some recent protests, may resort to firing on crowds.
President Saleh is presently in Aden and is expected to
remain there until after the anniversary celebrations. His
presence will ensure order, but it is increasingly unlikely
he will be able to resolve southern discontent without
reallocating resources away from his power base and
influential groups who prop up the ROYG, a step which in turn
may weaken or destabilize the regime.


23. (C) Comment continued: Southerners have real reason to be
unhappy with how the ROYG is handling development and
allocating national wealth. Nostalgia paints a much rosier
picture of South Arabia or the People's Democratic Republic
of Yemen than many admit, but lower population meant that
sparse resources, jobs and educational opportunities could be
divided to a greater degree. Northern leadership's reliance
on traditional elements, including tribes, has lead to a
deterioration of social freedoms, and have had a negative
impact on the limited education available to southerners.
Individually, southerners have a smaller piece of the pie,
but the pie has grown. Though it may not avert continued
conflict, the ROYG needs to improve efforts to fight
corruption and to more equally divide the national wealth.
Doing so may, in time, help economic prosperity grow, which
will help address limited access to education, jobs, and
influence the spread of social freedoms. End Comment.
SECHE