TA'IZ RESIDENTS EXPRESS CONSENSUS ON UNITY AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 001309

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND INR SMOFFATT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SCUL SOCI ECON YM
SUBJECT: TA'IZ RESIDENTS EXPRESS CONSENSUS ON UNITY AND
CIVIC CONCERNS TO AMBASSADOR

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. In his first official visit to Ta'iz on July
22, the Ambassador met with the Governor, the political
opposition, civil society leaders, and staff at USAID-grantee
al-Jumhuriya Hospital. The Governor and opposition were
emphatic about the need to preserve Yemeni unity, while
business and NGO representatives bemoaned how poor-quality
education contributed to unemployment and intolerance.
Ta'iz's status as Yemen's cultural and educational capital
was evident in the commitment and creativity of its medical,
NGO, and business leaders, who are striving to improve the
quality of life for the residents of the governorate. END
SUMMARY.

CONSENSUS ON UNITY
--------------


2. (C) In his July 22 meeting with the Ambassador, Ta'iz
Governor Hamud Khalid Naji al-Sufi remarked that "there is no
doubt that there are grievances, but unity is an untouchable
issue," perhaps the only issue on which the government and
the opposition are willing to agree. He expressed his belief
that resolving the country's economic difficulties would
eliminate calls for southern secession. "Change is needed,"
he said, to eradicate corruption and create a more responsive
government, "but unity is a red line." He said that
President Saleh's decentralization initiative needs to
progress further, but so far the results have been positive.
Despite the present challenges, Sufi expressed confidence
that "this particular storm will calm down."


3. (C) Surprisingly, members of the political opposition
delivered much the same message as the ruling party on unity.
The Ambassador began his meeting with local representatives
from the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) by
emphasizing USG support for unity and the need for dialogue.
The JMP representatives welcomed that message, describing
unity as something that the Yemeni people, opposition, and
government all agree on. According to Abdulrahman al-Azraki
of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP),however, "the unity you
see now is a unity of oppression." Islah representative
Abdulhafidh al-Faqih said that "unity needs pillars" to be
sustainable; he described those pillars as democracy, rights,
liberties, and equality. "If you are lacking any of these

pillars," he said, "you will be faced with dangers to unity,
with a culture of hatred, secession, and marginalization."

IMPROVING HEALTH CARE
--------------


4. (U) The Ambassador visited the maternity ward of
al-Jumhuriya Hospital, where a USAID-funded project is
training doctors and midwives in maternal and infant care.
Because of early and frequent pregnancies (the average Yemeni
woman gives birth to 6.3 children),remote populations, and
gender roles that discourage women from seeing male medical
staff, infant and maternal mortality rates in Yemen are
extremely high. The hospital's Director General Dr. Arwa
Bahran remarked that the success of the USAID-funded program
is causing more and more expectant mothers to seek care at
the hospital.

STRENGTHENING US-YEMENI CULTURAL AND BUSINESS TIES
-------------- --------------


5. (U) Shawqi Ahmad Ha'il Sa'id, Deputy General Manager of
the Ha'il Sa'id An'am Group, hosted a lunch for the
Ambassador with local businessmen, almost all of whom had
studied in the US. The businessmen discussed daily
challenges, including extreme fluctuation in the price of
wheat and other foods and the rapidly rising exchange rate.
They talked of the need to improve the Yemeni agricultural
sector by investing in ways to store and package fruits and
vegetables, which would enable Yemeni farmers to export crops
and protect themselves from major market fluctuations. They
also requested that the USG promote American products more
actively in Yemen by sending catalogues and brochures to
chambers of commerce so that local businessmen could find out
about the various US products that are available.

AN EDUCATION IN HUMAN RIGHTS
--------------


6. (U) The Ambassador met with two local NGOs focusing on
human rights promotion. At the International Humanitarian
Law and Human Rights Center (IHLHRC),Chairman Arif Adbullah
al-Makrami said the center's mission is rooted in the fact
that "the basis for corruption in third world countries is
the people's lack of knowledge of their rights." He described
IHLHRC projects to teach Yemeni citizens about their rights

and use this knowledge to fight abuse and corruption. A
number of the IHLHRC's projects are carried out in schools,
including a MEPI-funded project in 10 secondary schools to
start newspapers and video news programs to give students
hands-on experience in journalism and freedom of expression.
The National Organization for Developing Society (NODS) is a
USG grantee founded by moderate imam and Islah Member of
Parliament Shawqi al-Qadi. NODS is managed almost entirely
by women. Executive Director Misk al-Junaid, Qadi's wife,
described NODS's innovative program to engage imams in
efforts to embrace democracy, combat religious extremism, and
condemn terrorism. She said that NODS targets religious
leaders because "one Friday sermon could change the opinion
of a thousand people in a week."

POOR EDUCATION SYSTEM
--------------


7. (U) Almost all of the Ambassador's interlocutors touched
on Yemen's dismal educational system. Governor Sufi
described high unemployment, especially among university
graduates, as one of the governorate's greatest challenges.
According to Sufi, "the product of educational institutions
doesn't go hand-in-hand with the demands of the public and
private sectors." He recounted how, as Minister of Civil
Service, he was given a list of workforce demands by the
owner of the Saudi-German Hospital in Sana'a. The
then-Minister could not meet those demands. "This is the
catastrophe of our education system," he told the Ambassador,
noting that Yemeni universities are graduating an abundance
of Islamic studies and history majors who are not employable.
Local businessmen also discussed the need to improve the
quality of high school, university, and vocational education.
Ha'il Sa'id described how companies who hired university
graduates had to invest a lot of money in training them,
since their education was generally inadequate. Junaid
deplored the fact that "the level of education is
deteriorating every day in Yemen," in part due to the
economic crisis.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (U) The consensus on unity was resounding given Ta'iz's
proximity to the southern governorates of Dali' and Lahj.
Ta'iz still suffers from severe water shortages, but unlike
previous Embassy visits, the Ambassador's interlocutors
emphasized other pressing needs such as health care and
education. The USG will continue supporting NGOs in Ta'iz
that are creatively engaging influential sectors, such as
students and imams, and will seek additional ways to improve
the quality of education and healthcare for vulnerable
sectors. In the long term, a healthy and educated society
will be the basis for a more stable and prosperous Yemen.
END COMMENT.
SECHE