US embassy cable - 05SANAA420

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 000420 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO MCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KCOR, KMCA, KMPI, YM, DEMOCRATIC REFORM, HUMAN RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS CALL ON U/S DOBRIANSKY FOR 
MORE US SUPPORT 
 
1. Summary:  On February 24, Undersecretary for Global 
Affairs Paula Dobriansky, explored at a roundtable with 
Yemeni NGOs areas where the U.S. can support Yemen's nascent 
civil society.  Representatives from forty NGOs raised 
concerns over human rights abuses, women's access to 
political and economic power, and declining press freedom in 
Yemen.  U/S applauded the diversity and experience of Yemen's 
NGOs and encouraged them to continue sharing their ideas with 
the U.S. mission in Sanaa.  Highlighting the development 
opportunities available to Yemen through the MCC process, U/S 
stressed that to qualify for increased funding, Yemen must 
take concrete action to fight crime and corruption. 
Acknowledging concerns over the imprisonment of opposition 
journalist Khaiwani, U/S said she hoped to see forward 
movement on freedom of the press in Yemen.  End summary. 
 
2. Presidential Counselor, Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Karim 
al-Iryani, co-chaired the Civil Society Roundtable in his 
role as Chairman of Cultural Bridges Forum, an organization 
designed to enhance dialogue between donors and Yemeni civil 
society organizations.  Iryani launched the forum by 
encouraging broader cooperation among NGOs on areas of common 
interest.  In her opening remarks, U/S said that Yemen was 
her only stop on this visit, and that she came to Sanaa 
especially to "to explore where Yemen is going in the area of 
democracy." She elicited views from Yemen NGO and civil 
society leaders on press freedom, human rights and women's 
political participation.  Stressing she was here to listen, 
U/S asked the NGO representatives to share their strategies 
to influence the ROYG, as well as for their  views  on how 
best to combat Yemen,s pervasive corruption. 
 
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Call For True Multi-Party Rule 
------------------------------ 
 
3. Yemen Institute for Democratic Development Director Ahmed 
Sufi outlined the brief history of Yemen,s civil society, 
noting that in 1994 there were only a handful of NGOs 
operating in Yemen.  Sufi described his latest project to 
expand democratic education in schools, and requested that 
the USG make democratic education and economic development 
central to its activities in Yemen.  Political Development 
Forum, Chief Ali Saif Hasan, repeated visiting World Bank 
President James Wolfenson's warnings about the need for 
political reform saying, "we cannot rely on one-party 
government to face the challenges ahead."  Hasan asked for 
USG assistance in publishing an annual report on transparency 
and accountability to "overcome the exaggeration" by the ROYG 
of Yemen's democratic progress. 
 
------------------------- 
Human Rights and Security 
------------------------- 
 
4. Mohammed Ala'o, prominent human rights attorney and 
President of the National organization for Defending Rights 
and Freedoms (HOOD) pointed to several post-9/11 human rights 
abuses in Yemen including "thousands of arrests."  He claimed 
that dozens of Yemenis remain in prison without access to 
lawyers and due process.  Describing incidents of torture, 
Ala'o criticized the lack of judicial independence in Yemen, 
specifically that President Saleh is head of the Supreme 
Judicial Council.  Ala'o closed by complaining that Abu 
Ghraib tarnished the image of the U.S. as the leading 
supporter for human rights.  Calling the Abu Gharib incident 
an egregious abuse of human rights, U/S stressed that there 
was a process in the U.S. to bring the violators to justice. 
U/S asked that participants share information with the 
mission in order to enhance the U.S. understanding of the 
situation in Yemen. 
 
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MCC: Transparency and Accountability 
------------------------------------ 
 
5. Turning to Yemen's threshold status in the Millennium 
Challenge Account, U/S stressed that Yemen has an opportunity 
to dramatically increase USG development assistance, but 
accessing MCA funds would require serious progress in 
combating corruption.  U/S encouraged NGOs to work with the 
U.S. Embassy on transparency and accountably issues. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Expanding Women's Participation Across Yemeni Society 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
6. Citing the 2003 Arab Human Development Report, U/S said 
expanding the role for women in politics and the economy is 
critical for development.  She pointed to U.S. support for 
democratic institutions through the National Democratic 
Institute (NDI), specifically their work to engage women in 
the political process. 
 
7. Dr. Bilqis Abu Osbu, Al-Jazeera Women's Rights Center 
Director, asserted that the political role of women is 
declining in Yemen as demonstrated by the drop in female held 
seats from two in 1997 to one in 2001.  After protracted 
discussion, women's groups have agreed to seek quotas, 
explained Osbu, who also announced that the GPC ruling party 
endorsed a 20 percent quota for women in Parliament and 
promised legal changes to codify women's rights (Note: 
Post,s understanding is that the GPC has endorsed 10 percent 
quota.  End note). 
 
8. Social Organization for Family Development Chief, Basma 
al-Qubati, referred to the ROYG's plan to be a developed 
country in 2025 and yet, she said, the role of human rights 
and NGOs is neglected by government planners.  Qubati asked 
that an NGO and Civil Society empowerment strategy be 
developed to unite and organize their efforts.  Dr. Qaderi, 
from the Yemen's Women Union, said that her organization 
focused on the eradication of illiteracy to allow women 
multiple opportunities for economic and political expression. 
 U/S replied that the U.S. could partner in many areas such 
as literacy, micro-finance, and political involvement of 
women. 
 
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Press Freedom -- Still a Concern 
-------------------------------- 
 
9. Female Media Forum President and journalist, Rahma 
al-Hujera, thanked "terrorism" for bringing U.S. and 
international attention to the issue of reform, particularly 
in the areas of women, democracy and development.  Noting 
that the mission of her organization is to highlight gender 
disparity in the media, Hujera raised declining freedom of 
speech in Yemen, citing the recent string of journalist 
prosecutions and newspaper closures.  U/S affirmed that the 
U.S. was indeed concerned about deteriorating press freedoms 
in Yemen and that she had raised the case of imprisoned 
opposition journalist Khaiwani in her meetings with ROYG 
officials.  Characterizing the issue, "as something we would 
like to see movement on," U/S said Yemen has taken a number 
of positive steps in democratization, but that a regression 
in press freedom would hurt the country's image 
internationally. 
 
10. Comment:  Yemen's civil society participants demonstrated 
a true willingness to discuss difficult issues openly and 
honestly.  Many clearly enjoyed the opportunity to speak and 
exchange ideas with a high-level USG official.  The true test 
for Yemen civil society, however, will be whether or not they 
can move to the next step, from open and honest discussion to 
mobilizing to influence ROYG decision-making and become a 
partner of the government in reform.  While Yemen's NGOs are 
diverse and active, most still lack the capacity and 
capability to affect change.  End comment. 
 
11. Under Secretary Dobriansky did not have an opportunity to 
clear on this message. 
Krajeski