[...] I had an old invitation from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to visit Yemen, which he reminded me of when I met him on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Also, my friend Dr. Abu Baker Al-Qurbi invited me to visit Yemen when we were in New York last year. It was thus that I decided to prepare my itinerary for my trip there when I was participating in the Janadriya Festival in Riyadh. At the same time, my colleague Ghassan Charbel, the Editor in Chief of Al-Hayat, was also thinking about visiting Yemen to meet the President, and to go over the [recent] events and developments there, after he conducted a press interview with him last year, which subsequently stirred a wide controversy at the time. After consulting Ghassan, He said: If you go, then I will go. But I said: If you go, then I will go. It was thus that we agreed to travel together. When I was in Riyadh, I called Prince Khaled bin Sultan repeatedly, but in all the times that I tried, I did not find him at home. He was either returning from the South, or was busy in meetings. This all prompted me to hesitate about calling him again, as he works 18 hours each day. But I had to do what I had to do, so I called him and I said that I needed a small favour from his highness. He said: Go ahead. I said: I want a plane. He said: I beg your pardon? So I told him that I wanted to visit Yemen for the first time, and that I wanted to guarantee my trip in and my trip out of Yemen, especially that we had to conduct an interview with our brother the President (which is the title preferred by the Yemeni President instead of Mr. President or His Excellency the President). It was thus that Prince Khaled graciously provided us with a private jet, as he is generous and Ghassan and I deserve his generosity. I dare say that Yemen was a pleasant surprise at a time when all reasons of being pleased are missing from the Arab world today. Also, the reputation of the Yemeni people of being good and patriotic is an understatement, as they deserve such a reputation many times over. Yemen is in the corner of the wider [Arab] nation. True, poverty there is entrenched, but the Yemenis seem to have become immunized against its manifestations; as for wealth, it resides close to Yemen, and people have thus survived the virus of money that often pushes rich people to forget their identity. I, along with my colleague Ghassan, began our visit with a meeting with our brother Ahmad Hassan al-Lawzi, the Information Minister who was candid and provided us with the main themes to follow up during our visit. Later on, our visit ended nicely with a meeting with Dr. Abu Baker al-Qurbi and a conversation centred on Yemeni and Arab politics. I was pleased to see among the guests brother Abdul Wahhab al-Hujri, the Yemeni ambassador in Washington, and I had the chance to continue with him a debate that started in New York. Between this and that, we met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and my colleague Ghassan conducted an important interview with him. However, I want to talk about our brother the President after the interview is published in this newspaper, and so, I will continue my description of my first visit ever to Yemen. I should mention here that this task was made easier owing to the presence of colleague Faisal Mkarrram, the correspondent of Al-Hayat, with us, as he is an expert who knows all (important) people and they all know him, and read his newspaper Al-Ghadd [Tomorrow] which I promised him I would buy...tomorrow. We had luncheons hosted by Major General Hussein al-Massouri, the former Chief of Staff and the former mayor of the capital, and Brigadier General Ali Hassan al-Shater, the Armed Forces Moral Guidance Department Director and the Chief Editor of the 26 September newspaper. In truth, thanks to both these posts, Al-Shater is able to have all the information that a journalist ever needs. Was also present at the luncheons Brigadier General Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, the chief of staff of the central security forces, but I will get back to him tomorrow. With all honesty and accuracy, I want to say that these sessions we had in Yemen, and other sessions that were equally full of beneficial information worthy of being ‘stored', were among the finest meetings I ever took part in. All the attendance combined deep knowledge that go beyond Yemen's borders to the wider [Arab] nation, and such goodness, patriotism and unionism that are unspoilt by time. We know that Yemen fought many wars in the seventies, eighties and a civil war in the nineties, and has just ended its sixth war with the Huthis. There is a southern movement that has a separatist inclination, and yet, our brother the President, who has been in office since 1978, has not exploited any security situation to crackdown on liberties or to oppress dissidents. There are no political prisoners in Yemen and there is no fear from the intelligence services. This is while the Yemeni press is free to the extent, at which some media outlets are totally out of control and are practicing the kind of yellow tabloid journalism that I know in London, but without fear from slander and libel lawsuits or the legal fees that otherwise prevent total chaos in London. It follows from the foregoing that we and the brothers exchanged a frank conversation in those rare meetings. We asked all the questions that we wanted, and we heard opinions about constitutional reforms, and about the elected parliament and Shura councils that form the National Assembly, and also about autonomy and administrative reforms that are non-sovereign, in the governorates. We also discussed corruption, its causes and the best approaches to address it, as well as whether the sixth war really ended with the Huthis or whether it is a truce for the different parties to catch their breath and wage a seventh war, and many more topics. There is nothing like the Happy Yemen in the Arab world. It suffices that women there are veiled and even cover their eyes sometimes, while men fully show their legs, as the Yemeni dress is short and resembles the Scottish Kilt. Yemen is a men's country, and I shall continue tomorrow. [email protected]
