Tuesday, January 25, 2011

YemenWatch: Tuesday January 25, 2011

President Saleh is trying to calm things down in Yemen, following protests against him.  He is also raising the salaries of soldiers and civil servants.

Some of these protests are by the JMP (Joint Meeting Parties) which is a group of opposition parties.  The JMP wants to debate Saleh live in Al-Jazeera.  The EU is worried about the animosity among the political parties and how this will affect the elections.

The woman activist arrested, Tawakul Karman, was ordered released, but has refused to leave until the government releases those arrested with her.  More and more women are joining in the protests.  Naief Al-Kanis, a leader in the JMP, was released too.

Five AQAP members were arrested for an attack on a military convoy in Abyan province.

Last week I posted about how Yemen security forces may have stopped an attempt to kidnap 4 Czechs.  Apparently the would-be kidnappers were actually Yemeni soldiers.  The brother of one of the soldiers is being detained for murder charges in a land dispute, and the soldier wanted to draw attention to that case.

The UN Development Program administrator visited several programs in Yemen:  the Mine Detection Dog Center, World Food Program Health Center, and the UNICEF Outpatient Therapeutic Care Program.  These are all in Amran province.

Is Yemen ready to be the next Tunisia?  More information on the similarities and differences.

The Yemen News Agency has an article on press law in Yemen.  Apparently the Information Minister met with the leader of the EU delegation in Yemen.  As quoted in the article:
"The new law bans imprisoning or arresting any journalist for practicing his profession or for expressing their views. The law, however, stipulates financial punishments of violators."
So why are they still arresting and detaining journalists, if it's now illegal?

No comments: