Yemen 24: A Webblog about Yemen

March 17, 2009 will be remembered as an historic day as it is the day in which Yemen’s parliament passed a draft law that sets marriage age for a girl at 18 years old. This move has helped stop an ongoing controversy about marriage and the age at which a girl can be married off.Constant calls by civil society organizations interested in women’s rights and children as well as moderate religious scholars have been raised for fixing a right age for marriage, especially when several cases of underage girls were married off by their fathers to elderly husbands. Last year, Nujood Ali, 10, received an award from the United States as the Woman of the Year after she had challenged the marriage contract signed between her father and her relative, also the husband. Female lawyer Shadha Nasser defended Nujood and managed to stop Nujood’s ordeal and win a ruling that regained Nujood her freedom and her childhood after it was stolen from her when she was married off to a 30-year-old husband. In Yeme

Moneer Al-Omari Last week, unknown parties kidnapped a nine-member group of foreigners working for an international organization in Al-Jumhuri Hospital in Sa’ada. Out of the group’s nine members, three members – including two German nurses and a Korean nurse – were found dead.So far, security apparatuses and local authorities of Sa’ada have been unable to find the group’s other members and the authorities accuse Houthi followers of being behind the kidnapping operation; however, this was denied by Houthis. This comes few days after tribesmen in Amran’s Harf Sufian released a group of 24 medical workers, including foreigners. The country saw another kidnapping operation two months ago and it targeted a Dutch couple working for a development project in Taiz. Who to kidnap? Tribal and mountainous areas have been a scene for different kidnapping operations against foreigners. The first kidnapping operation targeting foreigners was recorded early in 1991. Since then, Yemen has seen over

Moneer Al-Omari Hakmah Ali, 40 and lives in Wisab Al-Safil district, knows nothing about unemployment. She knows nothing but her family, farm and her cattle. She never went to a school or Kuttab (informal sort of education).“My program starts early in the morning. I get up at 5 o’clock in the morning. I feed my two cows and ox. We have also 30 heads of sheep and goats. After that, I wake my children up, give them breakfast and ask them to take the cattle to the nearby areas to herd,” said Ali. “After I finish my work at home, I go to the farm to help my husband or to bring something for the cattle to eat.”This is the system for all women in Hakmah Ali’s neighborhood. They all spend the whole day preparing food for their children and husbands, working in the farms and feeding the cattle – including sheep, goats, cows, and sometimes camels. Like Ali, thousands of Yemeni women work in unpaid jobs and these jobs include farming, herding, collecting firewood, etc. They are denied any right

Moneer Al-Omari Water security is among the priorities for many countries, as experts believe that the approaching wars will be those of water and not oil as was the case in the past, especially in the Middle East where water resources are depleting very quickly.The Middle East region, to which Yemen belongs, is ranked among the dry regions of the world with few or no small rivers in most countries. All statistics and pointers indicate that Yemen has already entered the danger zone concerning water security, as the country suffers from a serious water crisis.BackgroundLocated within a dry and semi-arid area, Yemen is among the world's poorest countries in water resources. The Yemeni individual's share of water per year is among the lowest worldwide.Yemen's average annual rainfall ranges from 500 to 800 mm in the high lands, 50 to 100 in the coastal areas and less than 50 mm in the desert areas.According to the World Bank, a Yemeni's per capita share of recoverable wate

Moneer Al-Omari Following fierce clashes between Houthi followers and army forces, informed sources revealed that armed forces restored Al-Husamah, a strategic area in Al-Malahedh district on the Yemeni-Saudi borders. The army, according to local sources, is losing control of most Sa’ada districts with Houthis recently taking over Shadha and Razeh districts. Other areas in Al-Malahedh district like Bani Qais, Dhahel and Hadish Mountain have seen the fiercest clashes ever and the army forces managed to restore Al-Husamah which was taken over last week by Houthis. Sa’ada controlled by Houthis Following five consecutive and intermittent wars between Houthi followers and army and security forces in Sa’ada, Houthi movement – also known previously as Believing Youth Organization – has gained more power and the organization’s followers are now in tens of thousands. The movement that started with a few hundreds of fighters has now thousands of followers fully armed with medium-sized and small