READER COMMENTS

The situation in Yemen is improving towards prosperity and a bright future for this country in which life is returning. The state and the new government have started to exercise their functions very well, and the people have returned to work again. Service establishments have begun to conduct business; investment has started and the Yemeni economy has begun to rise and recover in a manner that will start construction, reconstruction and reduce the suffering of Yemeni citizens, who are weary of the recent events. So Yemen is fine and will see the development for the better in this good era. The stability will improve the Yemeni economy, and this will allow the Yemeni citizen to live in the prosperity that was long anticipated.

Yemen and its people, for more than three decades, have gone through a lot of economic and security problems because of the policies pursued by the failed dictatorial regime in Yemen. This regime has brought the people of Yemen all this suffering and pain because of the backwardness and poverty that reached broad segments of the poor Yemeni people. They lived through the most difficult humanitarian conditions under the dictatorship, which denied them glory and dignity, and kept them from gaining knowledge of the development witnessed by the entire world and walking in the footsteps of modernity. Everyone in Yemen aspires to that today, especially after the rejection of tyranny and dictatorship in Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh being forced to leave power by the courage of the people of Yemen. They can no longer bear such circumstances in which they lived throughout the period of the one-party rule.

The cities of Yemen were significantly quieter over the past few days, which coincided with the formation of the government of National Reconciliation. Meanwhile, the atmosphere is still tense in some areas. In fact, there is some tension between the Guard, the police and security on the one hand, and armed individuals who are loyal to the tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq Ahmar, the Sheikh of the Hashed tribes, which opposes the regime, on the other hand. That was due to the lack of trust between the two sides. Moreover, the young protesters against the regime continued their sit-ins and demonstrations during the past few hours. They called on the international community to intervene in order to stop human rights violations in Yemen and bring those responsible to trial. What has been achieved in Yemen so far are the first fruits of the people’s struggle. The government of National Reconciliation, arising from the agreement of a political settlement in accordance with the Gulf initiative and its operational mechanism, has started the exercise of its functions formally. The burden of the new Yemeni government is undoubtedly heavy. Indeed, the country has gone through a full economic paralysis in the past few months. This has complicated a situation which was already difficult. Therefore, the top priorities are to bring life to the state again and to provide the basic services, such as water, electricity and oil products. The new government should also remove all the armed manifestations, promote the factors that could ensure security and stability, consolidate social peace, provide the necessary care to the families of the martyrs, and treat the hundreds of wounded people.

I expect the best of things for the future of Yemen, God willing, if is the work is done in cooperation with solidarity, and that the future of Yemen and the Yemeni people would be better than before. For this reason everybody should stand together and not allow any outside interference to cause any violations among the people or between people and the government or anything else that urges the creation of chaos and confusion in the country. For this reason, it is very important to be heading to whatever contributes to the development of the State of Yemen and improves the situation there and to give priority to accelerating the implementation of all the requirements of the people of Yemen and toward the achievement of justice, equity and the provision of all services needed by the people who lack it, for being a very important aspect in their lives, especially after they have had many of their rights usurped. For this reason, everybody should keep an eye on the achievement of the goals that improve the position of the country and the people in the future, and stay away from everything that is harmful and can cause disasters in the country, and to fight against all the terrorist elements, who do not want any good for the people of Yemen. The government should strive to provide comfort, stability, tranquility, peace and security in the land of Yemen. Because the people there are tired, because they have suffered from poverty, hunger, corruption, ignorance, disease, destitution, deprivation, dereliction and negligence, it was time to change all this for the better, not vice versa.

What has taken place in Yemen is a good thing, and the other countries should do the same thing that former President Ali Abdallah Saleh did. His carefully arranged departure has helped in preserving security and stability in Yemen, which has seen a considerable improvement in terms of its economy, and also as a result of the stability that Yemen has witnessed on its soil, following the pains, hardships, sacrifices, harshness and barbarity that took place there. The situation is starting to become better than it was previously. Our hope is that there will be a radical and complete change in all the aspects of life for the Yemeni citizens. The new government should carry out its responsibilities vis-à-vis the Yemeni people, and ensure the provision of all the services, and respond to their demands, and eradicate poverty, unemployment, hunger, corruption, ignorance, backwardness, negligence and neglect. This is what we hope for all the other countries as well.

After the opposition and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed the Gulf Initiative, the country witnessed good developments as to the internal affairs, and the country started experiencing more stability in the Yemeni economy, after the formation of the National Coalition Government. The early indications of the rise in the value of the currency clearly had a positive impact on the stability of the security situation. Of course, these developments are delightful and they should please all the people who want the best for their fellow humans everywhere. We expect more stability and calm in Yemen, which faced very difficult political conditions that led to weakness of the infrastructure of Yemen in all fields. We hope that normal life will return through the solidarity of all Yemenis and their insistence on reconstruction of their country, which was destroyed during the past period. We should commence a campaign for construction and strengthening the infrastructure through returning to their work in all fields in the public and private sectors. The Yemenis need to benefit from the experience of the other people, who achieved development and who built their homes after getting rid of the dictatorial regimes, which had been oppressing them for many years. All Yemenis need to be united and to support their new leadership, to support it and to help it succeed in achieving the democratic rule, as well as closing the painful page of the past and starting a new page of development and utilization of all the human and financial resources within the process of building the new home.

As Ali Abdullah Saleh left quickly, the county began to return to its stability again and security situation is returning to normal. This will allow the opportunity to the government to work faster and the investment companies to come as soon as possible. It will also allow the return of the United Nations so as to help the Yemeni people until the situation and life in Yemen have improved. This will greatly help in saving many destroyed families, which have been destroyed because of the crisis experienced by the country and the economic impact left by this crisis on the country and the people. The state of Yemen now is starting to recover and the future will be better, God willing.

In order to reduce poverty, the Yemeni government works in two directions. The first is to improve the living conditions of the employees of the governmental administrative system and security and armed forces by increasing their salaries. The second is to broaden the network of social security for poor families. The governmental procedures for increasing salaries are divided into two tracks. The first is to reduce the income tax, which is worth 15-25% of the salary. In addition, it is to implement the third stage of the national strategy of salaries and wages adopted by the Yemeni government three years ago, in order to gradually raise the salaries of the government employees in the civil, military and security systems. It also aims to raise the minimum wage above the poverty line, which equals a hundred dollars, in addition to giving bonuses with an annual raise for each employee. The second track is to sponsor five hundred thousand families to receive monthly aid from the government to be able to afford their basic needs. The number of poor families receiving benefits from the fund has exceeded a million and a half families.