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News
• Yemeni FM:
Poverty, a lack of jobs fueling anger.
BRUSSELS (AP) — High unemployment and desperate poverty are
fueling the anger in several Mideast countries, including Yemen,
that country's foreign minister said Thursday.
"I think the frustrations of younger generations are universal in
the Arab world," Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told The Associated Press in
Brussels, where he had come to seek development aid.
But he said the Yemeni government had never severed contacts with
opposition parties and civil groups, and for that reason it was
better placed to hold a constructive internal dialogue than other
countries in the Middle East.
 Abu
Bakr al-Qirbi.
On Tuesday, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced in the
face of public discontent he would not run for another term in
elections scheduled for 2013. Saleh has been president of a united
Yemen since 1990, and was president of North Yemen for 12 years
before that.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of opponents and supporters of
Yemen's president staged dueling demonstrations Thursday in the
Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
In Yemen, where the population is overwhelmingly very young,
unemployment is 35 percent and poverty is endemic. About 40 percent
of the population lives on less than $2 (€1.45) a day.
Al-Qirbi said Yemen, where oil revenue is declining, is trying to
attract foreign investment and diversify its economy into areas such
as tourism.
The foreign minister acknowledged that the Arab world is undergoing
significant change but said that transformation must be properly
managed to fulfill people's aspirations rather than being change
simply for its own sake. He warned that interference from outside
countries — he mentioned Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan — would be
counterproductive.
Despite the upheaval, the foreign minister said he has great hope
for the future of the Arab world.
"In this dark tunnel, we can see light at the end of it," he said.
The above article was extracted from Mail.com:
Thursday, February 3, 2011
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