I was the Editor of the Arab News newspaper in Jeddah when Lieutenant Ali Abdullah Saleh became Yemen's president on 17/7/1978. Then, while I was in London working to publish Asharq al-Awsat, I asked the colleague Elias Haddad to hurry and travel to Sana'a to meet the new president, and so he did. Perhaps the interview that he subsequently conducted with him in English was the first ever interview the new president gave to the foreign press. The past thirty-two years alone are an enough witness to the wisdom and acumen of the president, and to his ability to run the political game and establish equilibrium in one of the most complex spots of the Arab World. As an ample example for this, Yemen had witnessed several wars in the seventies, the eighties and a civil war in the nineties. Besides, it has just ended its sixth war with the Huthis, a war could be the last one with them, or maybe yet another truce followed by a seventh war. In truth, the wars in Yemen practically mean that there are more than enough arms in the country for any party willing to wage a war to do so. However, the Huthis are also receiving external support in the form of funds, training and instigation, something that pushed them to attack Saudi territories. But the Saudi response was swift and firm, and perhaps it will deter them from returning to violence. In the interview that my colleague Ghassan Charbel conducted with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, I noticed that the president is less concerned about the Southern Movement and the separatist movement there, as he, like all Yemenis, is an Arab unionist. The separatist movement has no considerable support, to the extent that the President who is confronting this movement travelled to the summit in Libya carrying a project for an Arab union. The Yemeni President aspires for Arab unity, while facing four challenges in the North and in the South, not to mention the fight against al-Qaeda and the challenge of economic development. He even spoke about the Palestinians and their strife, before I or Ghassan had the chance to ask him about this subject. He called on the Palestinians to unite so as not to waste away their cause. Perhaps one of the reasons behind the president's confidence in his ability to overcome the present difficulties is that we interviewed him on his birthday. We congratulated him and said ‘Mabrouk' [Congratulations], as I did not think the president of the republic is expecting to hear ‘Happy Birthday to you', neither in English, not in Arabic. The interview with President Ali Abdullah Saleh is published in Al-Hayat today. In fact, he did not avoid answering any questions that the Editor in Chief asked, and he also answered my reference to Yemen's low rank on the Corruption Perception Index by saying that there is no wealth or richness in Yemen that encourage corruption, and also answered the question about whether there were possible failures in correctly assessing the numbers, training and weapons of the Huthis. We sat opposite the President in his spacious office. From the windows behind him, one could see minarets of mosques, including the President's new mosque. It is a large building with exquisite architecture that combines modernity with history. Directly in front of me, there was a bookshelf in the wall that held books such as Jam'al Jawami', Shams al-‘Ulum, Kitab al-Aghani, Fathul Buldan, Awjaz ul-Masalik, Tafsir Rouh ul-Bayuan and al-Tajrid. Al-Urdi, or the Defence Complex, currently houses the office of the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of Staff's headquarters. Its renovation began in 1998, and most of the construction work was completed in 2004 with some works still ongoing. The location is more than a century and a half old, as work on it began in 1301 Hijri, or 1848 A.D, and continued until 1321 Hijri. The first Qishla [barracks] was meant for the Ottoman Army Command, the second for the army housing, the third for the Bayada (infantry) and the fourth for the standing army. The complex also houses a mosque, a steam bath, a prison and food warehouses. Brigadier General Ali Hassan al-Shater, the Armed Forces Moral Guidance Department Director, took us for a tour around the site. I found the restoration works to have been excellently done, as they were faithful to the original plans that can be found in many pictures. The entrances, stairs, inscriptions and texts that document the history of the old building, as well as the names of those who ordered the constructions, graves and tombstones were all still preserved. The Ottomans left Yemen in 1918 following a harsh military defeat. The Imamate's rule then began before ending in 1962, to be replaced by republican rule that witnessed many coups and assassinations, until President Ali Abdullah Saleh took office in 1978, and led a country, whose inhabitants have only hitherto seen the roughest times. One last point: while the rule in Yemen must have both pros and cons, we travelled to Sana'a to interview the President, and heard the official account of the incidents in Yemen from north to south, and hence, I will not express my opinion as I did not hear the opposition's side of the story (along the lines of if a plaintiff comes to you with his eye gouged, do not rule in his favour, since perhaps his foe will also come to you with both his eyes gouged). However, I believe it likely that the leaders of the Southern Movement have exploited the incidents in the North to stage a comeback, perhaps benefiting from the neglect or shortcomings in addressing the needs of the Southerners, their concerns and their issues. Nonetheless, I want to say in full confidence as an Arab citizen who was infected by the bug of freedom and democracy after my long stay in the West that the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh represents a rare phase in Yemen's history, as the latter is a bloody history both in the past and the present. Yet, there are limited abuses within a wide margin of freedom today in Yemen, and there is no fear of intelligence officers or from the regime, nor secret prisons. The political opposition is loud and active in broad daylight and the President's first choice is frankness then reconciliation, in the hope that problems will all end and Yemen will become happy once again. [email protected]
