Yemen as Tourist Site--Yemen as Site of Culture Wars

In many ways, the world has been changing so fast that most of the planet has forgotten that less than two decades ago there were no Yemens in existence. 

It was in 1990 when the Marxist People's Republic of South Yemen joined in union with the Yemen Arab Republic.  The former state had been sponsored by the Soviet Union from the 1960s onward. 

Similar to the aftermath of  the Democratic German Republic and the Federal German Republic becoming united in the autumn of 1990, some people in Yemen have nostalgia for a bygone era.  This is particularly true for those Yemenis who have made their living in the tourist trade. These people are predominately (but not exclusively) found in the Southwest corner of Yemen. 

Alas, the younger generation now live in a post-unified Yemen world where either Al-Qaeda is active or where regionally disenfranchised citizens practice kidnappings of tourists in order to gain attention for their causes.  This has hurt Yemen's chances of becoming a successful global tourist hotspot, like its neighbors Egypt and Jordan.  Yemeni citizens are certain that they have as much to offer the world of tourism as does Jordan--and certainly much more to offer than the United Arab emirates, where Dubai is located.

Until this year, it has been primarily in either the northern or eastern half of the country of Yemen where many of the more extremist religious groups come from. On a positive note though, it is in these regions where most of the renegade movements have recently agreed to make peace in return for more governmental aid in the future, i.e. as part of what is seen as the Sa'ada peace process.

Making the modern Yemeni identity even more complicated though is the fact that Yemen has both an Arab identity and an identity of itself which  predates Islam by several millennia.  For example, it is claimed that Yemen was founded by Noah's son Sham, and even earlier, Adam--of Adam and Eve fame--gave his name to one of the country's major cities and former capital of South Yemen: Adan. 

As well, the Queen of Sheba is thought to have arrived in Israel from the Sabaean Kingdom of Yemen.  Recall, Queen was actually one of Solomon's biblical contemporaries--and visiting house guests.

For this reason, until 1948 a very significant faction of Jews lived in Yemen.  Sa'ada is one of the few regions where the handful of remaining Jews are found today.

Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda has become active with a so-called Yemeni Jihad group attacking the US Embassy in Sa'ana this month. According to Ginny Hill, writing in the YEMEN OBSERVER, "Cash-strapped Yemen lacks the financial resources to tackle terrorism in the same robust manner as the Saudis; its per capita gross domestic product of $2,300 is dwarfed by the $23,200 seen across the northern border."- The article is entitled "Yemen Faces New Jihad Generation."-

Of all the countries not currently at war, Yemen has been the victim of the greatest brunt of attacks in 2008--with five in the last three months. This situation is not likely to improve soon unless the government of Yemen can put more money and training behind anti-terrorist and anti-terrorist recruitment campaigns.

The attack two-weeks ago on the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, the capital of modern Yemen, left 17 locals--including one Arab-American--dead.  The U.S. Embassy immediately sent non-essential personnel and families home.  It also told all Americans to stay away from Yemen.

Years of tribal infighting, numerous kidnappings of foreign tourists, attacks on others, have left the Yemen economy far more underdeveloped than it should be.  It is in this context that the Yemeni government under long-term President Ali Saleh made a peace agreement this past year.

The treaty is known as the  Sa'ada peace treaty--named after the region where most of the recent fighting amongst the government and tribal forces had taken place over the prior five years.  The Yemeni government has agreed to give an amnesty to all involved fighters, but not to fighters aligned with Al-Qaeda.

It is in the absence of any place at the negotiating table in Yemen, where disenfranchised Islamic Jihadist groups in Yemen seem to have decided to accept aid and inspiration from Al-Qaeda, i.e. ratcheting up the level of Yemeni hostilities in recent months.

Hakim Al-Masmari, editor of the YEMEN POST, has written, "Last month in my editorial, I stressed that President Saleh was desperately trying to end all his problems with the different sides.  He started with the Sa'ada peace treaty, which everyone believes the country lost a lot in the negotiations,  Then he released  nearly all opposition political prisoners from prison, even the ones who were sentenced to prison by court."-

Al-Masmari complains, "I agree with President Salah for not negotiating with Al-Qaeda, but on the other hand if you are not going to sit on the negotiating table, then you better start saving people from their attacks to happen."-

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