Yemeni Ibex Day .. What does Ibex mean for Yemenis?

Yemeni activists belonging to the Yemeni nationalist movement (Aqal) - A national movement concerned with the revival of Yemeni history- released the Yemeni Ibex Day corresponding 22nd of January every year to celebrate the Ibex as a national animal known throughout history to have been a companion of the Yemeni man in the past and it has many symbols for Yemenis, so why the Ibex 

specifically and what secrets does this unique animal hold ?l

The Ibex is a wild animal of the goat family, it always living in the highlands and mountains and it is found in northeastern Africa, Europe, and Asia. Yemen is among the most prominent countries where the Ibex are located. The Ibex is distinguished by its long, curved back horns that form a semi-circle, and its long beard and cloven hooves that help it withstand the rugged environment 

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As for the Yemenis, the ibex lived through the Yemeni civilizations in various countries and regions formed by the east, west, north, and south, and remained painted and carved on temples, houses, and monuments. The ibex has a place in the lives of the ancient Yemenis and their religions, and it has a mentioned in their inscriptions for three reasons, Firstly, since the early Shebaean era, a religious ritual was established, which is the sacred hunting, especially the hunting of( Athtar), for which seasonal rites were held, led by the mourner or the Shebaan king and the great people, and the Ibex was the basis of this ritual. Secondly, the ancient Yemenis took the caribou - especially the stallion, the leader of the herd, as a symbol that embodies the god Athtar "the planet of Venus" and the god of rain, fertility, and fertilization. Athtar was a general deity for all Yemenis and had no privacy, and for this, he had temples all over the country, and they approached him in these temples with many statues in the form of ibex. The Temple of Bran is an example. And thirdly: the great abundance of flocks of ibex in all parts of Yemen, especially in the east, and the first quarters of the ancient Yemeni civilization

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Arwa is the name of the female ibex, very similar to the character of the Yemeni female, tenderness, clear femininity, soft texture and hardship in life, and that is why the Yemenis named their daughters Arwa according to the female ibex name. And we have an example of the most famous queen who ruled large parts of Yemen, which is Queen Arwa Al-Sulayhi . The female ibex does not have a bear, and does not have long horns like the male and does not enter into wars and inter-conflicts 

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Ibex Female .. Arwa 

The characteristics that characterize the Ibex characterize the Yemeni personality. The Yemeni character is peaceful by nature. He does not harm anyone, and he loves to live in a rugged environment and the tops of the mountains.They built terraces and houses above the clouds, and when he attacked, that person turns into the fiercest fighters. Yemen has been known for its fighters throughout history . Yemen is the cemetery of the invaders.Unfortunately, the Ibex has become one of the endangered animals in Yemen, and according to the activists who launched a national day to celebrate the Ibex, they are calling for the protection of this animal, which means a lot to Yemenis

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( Jamal Bin Omar ) UN Envoy At Misleading Mission !

After Biden took over the administration of the White House at the beginning of this year, it was clear that Biden’s return is the return of US diplomacy to the exercise of its work in the region after the chaos caused by  President Donald Trump during four years. Yemen has become one of the foreign policy priorities of the Biden administration, and since the early days of this administration, it made a series of decisions related to the war in Yemen, including stopping American support for Saudi Arabia and the 

             UAE and removing the Ansar Allah group (the Houthis) from the (FTO) list.

In this context, Jamal bin Omar, who is the former UN envoy to Yemen, returned after years of interruption to talk about the Yemeni file, commenting on the return of US diplomacy in Yemen with an article published in (Newsweek) that carried many dangerous historical inaccuracies that clearly and disgracefully adopt the view of the Houthis .

In the article, Bin Omar tried to portray that the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition was the cause of obstructed the efforts of the peace agreement in 2015 and that he was about to agree with the Houthis and the Yemeni government that would lead to stopping the Houthi expansion on the ground, and this is untrue. 

Let us review some of the stations since the beginning of the Houthi movement to bring down the Yemeni governorates one after another accompanied by a strange regional and international silence, beginning with the fall of the city of Saada in the far north of Yemen near the Saudi border in 2011, passing through to the conflict that the Houthis created with the Salafists in Dammaj followed by the siege they imposed on the city which led to the displacement of the Salafis from the city which led the fall of Dammaj also in the hands of the Houthis, then their forces headed to Amran and stormed the city and until they reached to the capital Sanaa, and took control of it in September 2015. 

During these ominous milestones in the series of toppling the Yemeni state to the hands of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, we did not see even a single statement condemning the Houthis or asking them to stop their expansion and control over cities by the UN envoy, Jamal Bin Omar, and even the (Peace and Partnership agreement(   that Jamal bin Omar oversaw its conclusion, which provides the formation of a government of competencies and the participation of the Houthis in power, and although the agreement was imposed strongly by the Houthis, the rest of the political parties were keen not to enter the country through a civil war they accepted the deal, but the Houthis ignored all of this and They broke the agreement and continued moving towards southern Yemen to control the southern provinces. 

Jamal bin Omar wants to appear in the arena again to play a role that serves certain parties, which requires a firm response to stop his tampering. He jumps over historical events to portray that his endeavors were a comprehensive solution. He says his initiative to share power was ready and suddenly there were airstrikes that blocked everything. 

He forgot that during his dialogue in Movenpick after submitting the draft of the constitution and the power-sharing agreement, the Houthis and Saleh did the following :

• _ The house of the internationally recognized president was besieged and a number of his guards were killed.
• _ The director of the President’s office, Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak who is the Secretary-General of the National Dialogue, was kidnapped.
• _ President Hadi fled to Aden and called for the continuation of the dialogue in Taiz, and the Houthis refused.
• _ The Houthis announced their constitutional declaration unilaterally, and this event represents a clear reversal of all political agreements and disavows Jamal Benomar’s pursuit of any power-sharing agreement.
• _ Airstrikes on Al-Masheeq Palace in Aden, the residence of President Hadi, after he escaped to Aden.                                    

Bin Omar ignores all these events carried out by the Houthis and Saleh, who do not care about any of the national or international agreements in favor of their expansion project for the sake of controlling Yemen. But all of Bin Omar's preoccupation is the Saudi intervention and the UN Security Council resolution, where he said in his article that the International Resolution 2216 is catastrophic. 2216 resolution is the resolution that imposes sanctions on Houthi leaders and demands them to withdraw from the areas that they have controlled by the force of arms, Bin Omar demands to change it by the facts of reality. These comments from him are very dangerous and contain a lot of misinformation, what we need is an additional international resolution based on International Resolution 2216 to expand the sanctions circle against the leaders of the Houthi militia and the rest of the militias that obstruct the efforts of the Yemeni government seeking stability and an end to the conflict. More international support of the Yemen government and return them to Sanaa to resume the political process, the referendum on a new constitution, and the country's entry into parliamentary and presidential elections. But Bin Omar demands to enable the Houthi militia and hand Yemen over to Iran.

How long he will continue to falsify this misguided world awareness?

_ Bin Omar Article link : https://www.newsweek.com/yemen-diplomacy-back-what-next-opinion-1570291 

How The Yemeni Youth Would Inspire By The Experience Of Women In Solidarity To Obtain Their Rights?

Observers of the Yemeni file are aware of the importance of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) that was held in early 2013, which included all the components of Yemen and came out with important outcomes that establish a modern civil state in Yemen, perhaps the most important of these outputs is to ensure the participation of women and youth in political and administrative positions in the country at a rate Not less than 30% for women and 20% for youth. These outputs were overthrown by the Iran-backed Houthi militia, imposing their control over the capital Sana'a, by force of arms, while the internationally recognized Yemeni government faced this coup by military force, claiming that it is defending the project of the NDC and the new Yemeni federal state .

A full year after the signing of the Riyadh Agreement between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), and the solution of some military problems represented by the security part of the Riyadh Agreement and the implementation of the redeployment on the ground, it became clear near the date of the announcement of the new government, and unfortunately, the leaks talk about not involving the woman in this government is a precedent that has not happened in twenty years in Yemen, and it is even more shameful that this government has not adhered to the outcomes of the NDC that clearly speak of the inclusion of women and youth. 

The pioneers of the feminist movement in Yemen and the groups concerned with the rights of women, especially the “ Women Solidarity “ network, which adopted a wide campaign to condemn the non-participation of women in the prospective government and called on President Hadi, the Prime Minister, and Yemeni political sides to adhere to the outcomes of the NDC and the participation of women by no less than 30%, and They launched the hashtag #NoWomenNoGovernment . This campaign gained widespread popularity on various social media sites and was able to affect the political parties, as some political parties issued statements calling for the exclusion of women in the next government. And this pressure led to postponing the date of the government’s announcement and news of consultations to add several women to the government.

As an independent youth, what is remarkable to me in this feminist campaign that pressured the concerned parties is how we as a youth in Yemen can benefit from the experience of strong solidarity between women and the feminist networks that work hard to advocate for their causes and work to defend the gains they have obtained.

The role of women and youth as new forces outside of the system that is accustomed to sharing power in Yemen is important and essential for the process of positive change and peacebuilding, which requires more joint networking between women and youth to form a pressuring lobby capable of making real transformations and preserving On the gains of change since the 2011 revolution, perhaps an important and strategic work like this needs to start immediately to form coordination committees for the success of this work between women and youth components, and it will also need advisory, logistical and technical support from the Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen and the European Union.

International organizations should focus more on building youth capacities and empowering them politically so that they are organized through youth networks working to advocate youth issues and express their needs. The stage now is the youth stage in building peace and development, and betting on traditional forces only will not create stability. Yemen is a young society. More than 70% of the population are young people, so they have the right to be represented in the decision-making process that relates to their fate and issues.

We have to remember how the presence of young people and women in the NDC contributed to defending civil issues, rights, and freedoms with all courage, and they did not accept any bargains or concessions on these issues. Also in Libya, the participation of women and youth was a positive factor in defending the people's causes Libya and peacebuilding through their active participation in the peace agreement recently established in Tunisia. 

It is time for the momentum to return to the role of youth and women to face the Yemeni scene again after the entrenched political parties have proven that they are not trustworthy of the values of change. 

Floods, ‏diseases and no services, ‏how the power struggle in Aden affected people's ‎lives ‏?! ‏

Floods, diseases and no services, how the  power struggle in Aden affected people's lives ?! 

Since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen, and the situation is getting worse every day, the United Nations announces the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and shocking reports of famine, disease, and infrastructure collapse.

Aden, a city in southern Yemen, was taken by the internationally recognized Hadi government (after they escaped from Sana'a, which was fell by the Iran_backed Houthis) as the country's temporary capital.

The political conflict between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council STC (which is a southern component with directions for the disengagement between north and south and back to Yemen before 1990) greatly affected the lives of the citizens in Aden . The city, which used to be one of the most beautiful cities in Yemen, has been suffering from the absence of basic services, cuts in salaries, and the futility of militias looting land and shops.

The situation has worsened after heavy rains accompanied by strong winds that struck the country in late April, affecting 150,000 people, according to United Nations reports, causing severe damage to dozens of homes, blackouts, and the destruction of the infrastructure of Aden streets, which is basically mainly bad .

Picture from Almansora area in Aden show how the water piles up in the streets. 

Aden is ‎distressed area .

On April 21st, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalek announced in his Twitter account Aden as  distressed area .

After the floods that flooded the city, a number of citizens in Aden protested against the Yemeni government and the STC, because no one had moved to save Aden from the tragic situation in which they are in. Days later, some members of the Yemeni government led by Prime Minister moved from Riyadh to Aden to manage the situation, but the STC forces whom controlling Aden airport, refused to allow the government to enter the city because some of the STC leaders were prevented from returning to Aden earlier .

On April 26, the Southern Transitional Council issued a declaration of self-administration for the south, indicating at one point that the Yemeni government did not fulfill its responsibilities to provide electricity that cut off due to the torrents, and also to repair the streets that were flooded and compensate the citizens whose homes were damaged.

         Image showing polluted water and                           wastewater explode.

Malaria and epidemics sweep through Aden.

 Aden continued to face a political struggle without a real move to save people, the water piled in the streets due to the rains contaminated and sewage exploded, MSF earlier warned  the spread of malaria with the onset of the rainy season, and it really happened, diseases spread unprecedentedly  In the city, according to the health office in Aden, more than seventy deaths occurred in various districts of Aden only last week.

 The political conflict in Aden made it live in a very difficult situation economically, humanitarian and politically .It left the city facing its fate alone with the floods.

Local councils .. black holes!

 Two days ago, the central bank spent for each local council in Aden an amount of fifty million Yemeni riyals, as urgent support to repair the damage caused by the floods in Aden, but still no real changes were touched on the ground.

 Citizens accused that the local councils mangers in Aden are practicing big corruption, and they are one of the reasons for the unfortunate situation in Aden .Ayoub Amer, who is an independent social activist from Aden, said that the local councils mangers did not use the sums spent to extract rainwater and compensate the affected people in the as required and many of this money were looted .

          Copy of the invoices that the Central                  Bank paid to the local councils.

Volunteer youth and social initiatives to confront the floods in Aden.

 From the first day after the rains fell, there was a random movement of young people from the city trying to do something towards the city in the absence of official institutions, this initiatives received support from Yemeni merchants abroad such as the "Bani Yafia allies"  and the " son of shoaeeb " in America, but later it became clear that some of these volunteers have no credibility at work , some of this money has been looted and has not been used properly. 

       Volunteer youth clean and sanitize                                streets in Aden

Aden needs urgent rescue, especially with the government announcing the spread of the Coronavirus virus, and reported more than 20 confirm cases, in addition the deteriorating health structure.

The situation in Aden needs urgent intervention and work to produce quick solutions to the situation, as follows: -

First, a joint committee must be coordinated  between the STC and the legitimate government to manage the disaster epidemic in Aden .

Second, the formation of oversight committees from civil society organizations at the level of each directorate to monitor the level of implementation and performance .

Thirdly, it is important for the World Health Organization to pay special attention to Aden and provide hospitals and health personnel with the tools, clothes and equipment they need. 

Hussam Almolaiki .

The story of Nahla and the suffering of war . #Yemen

This is Nhala Seaad, a 12-year-old was injured in a landmine explosion on 10 of November, 2016

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. Nahla telling the story of what happened to her on that day: “Me and one of my friends were tending sheep me on the way that goes to village of Madghr. Suddenly a land mine exploded, I felt like a cooking gas canister exploded in my face, I saw blood everywhere. My friend was injured and I could not feel my legs anymore. I was screaming and screaming until my mother heard me and then she took me to the hospital .”

 Nahla’s mother

Nahla’s mother describe what happened: “After the landmine explosion on my daughter, the fighting intensified in our village. I was forced to flee my home and left the rest of my children with their uncle (my brother) while I was in the hospital. I felt humiliated. The ware destroyed everything we had. The roof of our house collapsed in coalition (Saudi-led) airstrikes. Houthi landmines turned our lives into hell. My daughter, Nahla, leg was amputated and the other one was injured because of the landmine explosion. Before the war, she went to the school, and I encouraged her to continue her education, but she and hundreds of students in our village were prevented from going to school [because of the war].”

Nahla and her family used to live in Al-Dhabab area, a village in Taiz governorate, which has witnessed intense armed clashes between Houthis and their ally former President Ali Saleh forces from one hand and popular resistance forces on the other. Now Nahla lays in Al-Boraihi hospital in the city of Taiz. She and her family have nothing. They are struggling to afford basic needs to survive. They rely on humanitarian organizations to provide treatment for Nahla.

                                                                                                                                                Hussam Almolaiki