Yemen Reserach

8/7/2019 Yemen Reserach

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Yemen Research Carol Chan 10SJ

Government

Country name

Conventional long form: Republic of YemenConventional short form: YemenLocal long form: Al Jumhuriyah al YamaniyahLocal short form: Al YamanFormer: Yemen Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and People's DemocraticRepublic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen]

Republic

Capital

Name: Sanaa

Geographic coordinates: 15 21 N, 44 12 E

Administrative divisions:21 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Abyan, 'Adan (Aden), Ad

Dali', Al Bayda', Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Amanat al

'Asimah, 'Amran, Dhamar, Hadramawt, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Ma'rib, Raymah,

Sa'dah, San'a' (Sanaa), Shabwah, Ta'izz

Independence:

22 May 1990 (Republic of Yemen was established with the merger of the Yemen

Arab Republic [Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen] and the Marxist-dominated

People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen]); note

- previously North Yemen became independent in November 1918 (from the

Ottoman Empire) and became a republic with the overthrow of the theocraticImamate in 1962; South Yemen became independent on 30 November 1967

(from the UK)

Legal system:

Based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal

customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Chief of state: President Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former

president of North Yemen, assumed office upon the merger of North and South

Yemen); Vice President Maj. Gen. Abd al-Rab Mansur al-HADI (since 3 October

1994)

Head of government: Prime Minister Ali Muhammad MUJAWWAR (since 31 March

2007)

cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the advice of the

prime minister




elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election

last held on 20 September 2006 (next to be held in September 2013); vice

president appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime

ministers appointed by the president

election results: Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president; percent of vote - Ali

Abdallah SALIH 77.2%, Faysal BIN SHAMLAN 21.8%

Legislative branch:

bicameral legislature consisting of a Shura Council (111 seats; members

appointed by the president) and House of Representatives (301 seats;

members elected by popular vote to serve eight-year terms)

Elections: last held on 27 April 2003 (scheduled April 2009 election postponed

for two years)

Election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - GPC 228, Islah47, YSP 7, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party 2,

independents 14

Political parties and leaders:

General People's Congress or GPC [Abdul-Kader BAJAMMAL]; Islamic Reform

Grouping or Islah [Muhammed Abdallah AL-YADUMI]; Nasserite Unionist Party

[Abd al-Malik al-MAKHLAFI]; National Arab Socialist Ba'th Party [Dr. Qasim

SALAM]; Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Yasin Said NUMAN]; note - there are at

least seven more active political parties

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Muslim Brotherhood; Women National Committee

other: conservative tribal groups; southern secessionist groups; al-Qa'ida in

the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

International organization participation:

AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA,

IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO

(correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC,

NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR,

UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,WTO (observer)

Foreign Aid:

At the time of unification, South Yemen and North Yemen had vastly

different but equally struggling underdeveloped economic systems. Since

unification, the economy has been forced to sustain the consequences of

Yemen’s support for Iraq during the 1990–91 Gulf War: Saudi Arabia expelled




almost 1 million Yemeni workers, and both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

significantly reduced economic aid to Yemen. The 1994 civil war further

drained Yemen’s economy. As a consequence, for the past 10 years Yemen has

relied heavily on aid from multilateral agencies to sustain its economy. In

return, it has pledged to implement significant economic reforms. In 1997 the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved two programs to increase Yemen’s

credit significantly: the enhanced structural adjustment facility (now known as

the poverty reduction and growth facility, or PRGF) and the extended funding

facility (EFF). In the ensuing years, Yemen’s government attempted to

implement recommended reforms—reducing the civil service payroll,

eliminating diesel and other subsidies, lowering defense spending, introducing

a general sales tax, and privatizing state-run industries. However, limited

progress led the IMF to suspend funding between 1999 and 2001.[2]

In late 2005, the World Bank, which had extended Yemen a four-year US$2.3

billion economic support package in October 2002 together with other bilateral

and multilateral lenders, announced that as a consequence of Yemen’s failure

to implement significant reforms it would reduce financial aid by one-third overthe period July 2005 through July 2008. A key component of the US$2.3 billion

package—US$300 million in concessional financing—has been withheld pending

renewal of Yemen’s PRGF with the IMF, which is currently under negotiation.

However, in May 2006 the World Bank adopted an assistance strategy for

Yemen under which it will provide approximately US$400 million in

International Development Association (IDA) credits over the period FY 2006 to

FY 2009. In November 2006, at a meeting of Yemen’s development partners, a

total of US$4.7 billion in grants and concessional loans was pledged for the

period 2007–10. At present, despite possessing significant oil and gas

resources and a considerable amount of agriculturally productive land, Yemen

remains one of the poorest of the world’s low-income countries; more than 45percent of the population lives in poverty. The influx of an average 1,000

Somali refugees per month into Yemen looking for work is an added drain on

the economy, which already must cope with a 20 to 40 percent rate of

unemployment. Yemen remains under significant pressure to implement

economic reforms or face the loss of badly needed international financial

support.[2]

At unification, both the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic

Republic of Yemen were struggling underdeveloped economies. In the north,

disruptions of civil war (1962–1970) and frequent periods of drought had dealt

severe blows to a previously prosperous agricultural sector. Coffee production,formerly the north's main export and principal form of foreign exchange,

declined as the cultivation of khat increased. Low domestic industrial output

and a lack of raw materials made the YAR dependent on a wide variety of

imports.

Public finances

Public debt 31.8% of GDP (2008 est.)




Revenues $9.097 billion (2008 est.)

Expenses $10.55 billion (2008 est.)

Economic aid recipient : $2.3 billion (2003-07

disbursements)

Data Source from CIA WORLD FACT BOOK

Religion Law (Sharia)

Sharia is the sacred law of Islam. Most Muslims believe Sharia is derived from

two primary sources of Islamic law; namely, the divine revelations set forth in

the Qur'an, and the example set by the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in the

Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of Sharia to

questions not directly addressed in the primary sources by including secondary

sources. These secondary sources usually include the consensus of the

religious scholars embodied in ijma, and analogy from the Qur'an and Sunnah

through qiyas. Shia jurists replace qiyas analogy with 'aql, reasoning.

Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime,

politics and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexuality, hygiene,

diet, prayer, and fasting. Where it enjoys official status, Sharia is applied by

Islamic judges, or qadis. The imam has varying responsibilities depending on

the interpretation of Sharia; while the term is commonly used to refer to theleader of communal prayers, the imam may also be a scholar, religious leader,

or political leader.

Tribes

Yemen is still a largely tribal society.[45] In mountains of northern Yemen live

some 400 Zaydi tribes.[46] The African-descended group known as Al-Akhdam

form a kind of hereditary caste in Yemen

Including

Azd, Bakil, Banu Hamdan, Banu Judham, Banu Lakhm, Beni Ḥassān, Hashid,

Maqil, Qahtanite, Sabaeans

Women

http://www.gildedserpent.com/articles12/livinginyemen.htm

\From April 1996 to March 1999 I lived in Yemen. I was there with my husband who was working to promote the

country as a tourist destination. It was wonderful. Many are surprised to hear this, imagining me locked up, veiledand bored out of my mind. I was anything but that; I loved living in Yemen.






Although Yemen is a very conservative Moslem country, Yemeni women are allowed to drive and vote. Manywomen are in the Yemeni work force as teachers, nurses, doctors and even as businesswomen and televisionannouncers. At the time we were living there, 13 women were in the Yemeni Parliament.

The veiling of women is not law in Yemen as it is in Saudi Arabia. Many younger, educated women merely cover their heads, but not their faces, and some do not veil at all. Those who do, do so in deference to tradition, not tolaw. Foreign women are not expected to veil and I myself never did. Veiling provides women with a kind of

anonymity, which, I was to learn, has certain advantages.

However, in the beginning, veiling posed a distinct problem for me. I kept getting separated from myfriends when in the crowded "Suq" or marketplace because I was unable to tell the veiled women apart.They all looked alike to me!

The most common cover-ups are the black "Abaya", also worn by women in many other Arab countries, and the"Sharshaf", the traditional Yemeni women's outer garment, also black. The "Sharshaf" was brought to Yemen bythe Ottoman Turks who occupied Yemen in the 16th century and again in the 19th century. Upper class Yemeniwomen first started wearing the "Sharshaf" because they considered it fashionable.

The original cover up is the colorful "Sitarah". It is still worn by the more traditional women in the old city of Sanaaor by those who need a quick cover up. The "Sitarah", with its bright red and blue patterns, resembles a tablecloth.Many foreigners, including us, actually used it for one. This, of course, evoked giggles and loud shrieks of laughter from my Yemeni friends the first time they came to visit my home.

Traditional Yemeni women get up early in the morning, bake their own bread, prepare breakfast, do housework,and then prepare lunch, the main meal in Yemen. Afterwards, they are usually free to get together with their womenfriends, often at gatherings called "Tafrutas".

On the second day after my arrival I met my neighbor, Arwa, a traditional veiled Yemeni woman, who invited me tovisit her the following afternoon. A friendship developed between us. Arwa could always understand my less thanperfect Egyptian Arabic, even when the other women couldn't, and I could always understand her.

Yemeni Arabic is quite different from other Arabic dialects and the women additionally speak a dialect all

their own. I later learned that this was to insure more privacy and to avoid being understood by the men!

Arwa introduced me to all her friends and I started accompanying her to the "Tafrutas".

The women sat around exchanging gossip, drinking tea steeped with cardamom and flavored with sugar and milk.They primarily gossip when they get together, taking about all of the neighbors' lives, the husbands, and thechildren. They also discuss, their and their families concerns andproblems. At my first afternoon gathering I discovered that the women knew everything about the men's lives,although the men know nothing of theirs! They knew all about my husband, what he looked like, where he wentevery day. One of the advantages of veiling is that the women can see every thing while remaining unseen!

Some of the woman chewed Qat, a plant with a mildly narcotic effect, which is very popular in Yemen. The leavesof the Qat plant are put in the side of the mouth until a ball is formed. Swallowing the juice of the leaves leads to a

state of mild stimulation. In general, women chew much less Qat than men, often chewing only on Thursdays andFridays, the days when weddings are celebrated. (Many men chew Qat everyday.)

Social Class:

Yemen Reserach

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