US embassy cable - 04SANAA2757

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 002757 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EWWT, SOCI, PGOV, PHUM, KMPI, YM 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TRIP TO ADEN AND TAIZ 
 
1. Summary.  Ambassador visited the port city of Aden and the 
city of Taiz October 11-13.  Aden and Taiz, the two former 
capitals of North and South Yemen respectively, are the two 
largest and most commercially vibrant of Yemeni cities 
outside the capital Sanaa.  NGOs, social activism, commercial 
expertise, and governmental innovation are a hallmark of the 
two cities.  Ambassador met with Aden Governor Yahya 
Al-Shu'aibi, Taiz Governor Ahmed Abdullah Al-Hajjari, 
business people, academics, military officials, community 
leaders, and women's NGOs to share his goals for his tenure 
in Yemen and to hear their concerns and ideas.  End Summary. 
 
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Taiz Water Projects 
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2.  Taiz suffers from a lack of attention from the ROYG. 
International donors have stepped up to provide much of the 
needed municipal services.  The World Bank has devoted a 
large part of its 100 million USD water infrastructure 
development budget to projects in Taiz.  Taiz Governor Ahmed 
Abdullah Al-Hajjari, prominent businessman and local sheikh 
Ali Mohamed Saeed, and the Executive Director of the Water 
Authority Adel Magaref raised Taiz's dire water needs with 
Ambassador, explaining that while underground fresh water 
reserves in Sanaa can be reached with 300 meter drilling, 
authorities in Taiz must drill over 1,000 meters to reach the 
hot, salty, brackish water under the city.  This water must 
be mixed with clean water which is brought from outlying 
areas, however, the resulting water still does not meet clean 
drinking water standards.  The city of Taiz requested 
international donor support to improve drinking water in 
Taiz.  Taiz authorities believe building a desalination plant 
in the ocean side city of Mokha over 100 kilometers over the 
mountains from Taiz, and building a pipeline to bring in the 
water, is the only long-term solution. 
 
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MEPI e-Learning Internet Classrooms Inaugurated 
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3.  In Aden Ambassador inaugurated five Internet-ready 
computer classrooms that will provide Internet access and 
other education tools to over 4,000 students in five Aden 
schools.  This MEPI-funded program focuses on providing the 
information exchange and research tools necessary for 
building democratic society. 
 
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Aden Governor Shu'aibi: Economic and Trade Development 
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4.  Ambassador met with Aden Governor Shu'aibi, widely 
considered one of the most effective and least corrupt ROYG 
administrators.  Since entering office two years ago, 
Shu'aibi has improved decaying port and container facilities, 
repaired pot-holed and crumbling city streets, brought more 
consistent electricity services to the city grid, improved 
school buildings and equipment, and significantly decreased 
graft and corruption in the municipality. 
 
5.  Ambassador and Shu'aibi discussed prospects for 
commercial development through the Aden Free Zone (AFZ) and 
the Aden Container Terminal (ACT) in the Port of Aden.  Both 
projects have stalled in recent years but show promise of 
reviving.  The Governor praised the U.S. program to develop 
the Yemeni Coast Guard (YCG), saying that without the 
presence of coastal security the port would be a commercial 
wasteland. 
 
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Yemen Coast Guard 
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6. Colonel Saleh Makullah, General Director of the Yemen 
Coast Guard (YCG), thanked Ambassador for US Coast Guard 
(USCG) assistance in establishing the Yemeni Coast Guard. 
After the Limburg attack, very few containers entered the 
Aden Port, however, said Makullah, since the YCG came into 
existence a year ago, the Port of Aden has enjoyed 280,000 
TEUs through its terminals.  Without the presence of coastal 
security, the Port of Aden could not have improved its 
security presence, enjoyed the lowering of commercial 
shipping insurance rates, and seen the return of some 
commercial shipping traffic. 
 
7.  In a major move, in recent weeks two Coast Guard ships 
moved to the Hodeidah port area to start patrolling on the 
Red Sea coastline significantly enhancing maritime security 
in the area. 
 
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Ambassador's Meeting with Women Activists 
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8.  Ambassador met with Women's Rights activists in Aden to 
discuss their work in journalism, child labor, female 
workers' rights, and democracy building.  Organizations 
represented at the meeting included the Yemen Women's Union, 
the Salvation Center for Women Care, Arab Foundation for the 
Support of Women and Juvenile Issues, Center of Human Rights 
and Democracy for Women, Association for Fighting Child 
Labor, and the Supreme Council for Maternity and Childhood. 
 
9. Activist Radia Shamshir shared her experience running as 
an independent candidate in the 2003 parliamentary elections 
after being passed over as a candidate for her party, the 
Yemen Socialist Party (YSP).  Ambassador noted that despite 
the many viable candidates, only one woman was elected to 
Parliament in the last elections.  The women described plans 
for addressing this problem by instituting a quota system, 
but complained that the ruling General People's Congress 
(GPC) party pays lip-service to the issue of women's 
participation in Yemeni political life. 
 
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Haifan Village: What a Little Water Can Do 
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10.  Ambassador visited the Haifan Village Water Catchments 
Project in Haifan Village near Taiz.  Ahmed Al-Barakani, the 
Assistant Manager of the Public Works Project Taiz Branch 
Office, who helped execute the construction, conducted the 
tour.  The project, funded by 416-B funds, collects water 
from the rocky hillside and distributes it to irrigation 
points and water pump sites throughout the village.  This 
project has dramatically raised the standard of living in 
this 300-inhabitant village by improving productivity so much 
so that agricultural products, such as sorghum, have replaced 
qat cultivation as the primary crop.  (Note: this success 
story is an example of what will be lost without 416-B food 
aid programs in Yemen.  The major impact will be on poor 
rural villages where even a small donation of $80,000 can 
bring significant and dramatic improvements to food security, 
access to water, and prosperity.  End Note). 
KRAJESKI